The Blue Rose
by Jane238
Summary: Batman is upset that his new partner's identity has been discovered by a stranger, but Jane's dark past is just moments from dragging her under the waters of reality. Can Jason bring her hope when he's still adjusting to life in the Manor? Either way, they only have each other to rely on, and the world seems to be pitted against Jane. Jason/OC AU (5 Year Gap) Dick/Babs
1. Chapter 1

_**AN: Hello everyone! I've recently updated the first 6 chapters, but I'm not very good at *starting* stories so I**_ _ **apologize**_ _ **for the inconsistencies in writing style, as different parts were written at different times with different levels of inspiration. If you notice any content that is inconsistent, or have tips for how I can fix the style bits, let me know! (Also, spoilers for Young Justice, if you hadn't guessed that already). This is also rated T primarily for cussing (mostly from Jason) and some**_ _ **violence**_ _ **. It might get a bit dark later, but I don't think it'll be anything beyond T and I'll provide warnings as necessary.**_

 _ **I want to clarify ahead of time that this is an AU story, so I heavily pick and choose what cannon I include throughout. That said, it's safe for you to assume that all of Seasons 1 and 2 of Young Justice happened exactly the way it did, except the heroes are aware of meta genes before the Reach showed up. This story is set during the 5 year gap, so I won't actually be including any of Season 1 or 2, but I might reference things as I go along.**_

 _ **Relative ages are as follows:**_

 _ **Dick - 15 (rest of Team aged up accordingly)**_

 _ **Jason - 13 (almost 14)**_

 _ **Jane - 13 (almost 14)**_

 _ **Bruce - Batman Age (somewhere around 38-40)**_

 _ **I have all of the main plot points planned out, but I'm definitely open to suggestions and prompts as the connecting parts are a bit sketchy (hence the disjointedness of the first few chapters). My updates will be**_ _ **sporadic**_ _ **at best, and this will definitely take a few years to finish... Oh the joys of being a science major! So without further ado (since you've survived my AN!), I give you... The Blue Rose!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs, Lucas Films and Warner Brothers get all the credit!**_

 **Prologue**

Tamadon bit down on the shaft of his pilex driver and wedged his other hand into the small gap in the bulkhead that contained the hyperdrive regulator. It still worked, but it was getting old and this was definitely a piece that needed to be replaced _before_ it stopped working.

He grit his teeth around the metal driver when his hand got pinched on something _again_. Given, he could technically have taken more of the bulkhead down to actually access the chamber, but this model was small and could fit through the smaller gap so therefore it _would_ fit through the smaller gap.

"Tamadon!" He distantly heard I'ra En call for him, but in that same instant something sharp decided to stab him from out of nowhere.

"Blast!" He had to resist the urge of yanking his hand back reflexively and gave himself a second to breathe, "Just a minute!"

Extracting his hands, Tamadon grabbed a dirty rag from his pile on the floor and made the resolution to come back and pull the rest of the bulkhead down before climbing up the ladder to get to the main hallway of the ship.

"Hey Honey, what's up?" Tamadon kissed his wife lightly on the top of the head, careful to keep his hands away while he worked at wiping the worst of the grease off.

"Well, I was cleaning out old data on the NavComp, since you went and transferred the _entire_ data history when we got the new one, and found the weirdest coordinates. Look at these! They're in the negatives and it's gotta be a glitch in the system. I wanted to see what you thought, in case we need to get a new one."

Tamadon took a deep breath and stared at the numbers. 000, -028, 034. Those three sets of numbers tugged at a hidden part of his mind that meant a whole lot of different things to him, but the wide expectant gaze of his wife won out.

"It's not a glitch. Not anymore, at least. About six months before I met you, I was having some major trouble with the system, kept arriving at planets that weren't the ones I had picked, and I'm honestly lucky that it didn't take me through a star along the way.

"This is back when I was working for that junker on Utapau, you remember S'kra? Well I had gotten this tip that there was some kind of space battle near Mandalore, and the system wasn't working with Grid Coordinates at all, so I had to punch in the manual numbers and I settled in for a week-long hyperspace trip."

I'ra En's mouth twisted in a way that was obviously trying to hide a smirk. "I forgot how old your ship was back then. I swear it was gonna fall apart if you sneezed too hard."

"I don't need your sass woman! That ship was great, and it didn't actually kill me, so I count it as a win."

"Yeah, you can keep telling yourself that. It doesn't change the fact that you basically gave it away once we bought the _Shadow_." I'ra En patted the panel in front of her with mock fondness.

"Oh hush, you're distracting me. Where was I? Oh, heading to Mandalore." Tamadon took a second to pull out the second chair to finish the story, "So it's been a solid six days, almost seven, and I get ready for the drop from hyperspace expecting the blue and green mess that is Mandalore. I come out of hyperspace and find myself looking at a literal rock. Just this random asteroid hanging out in the middle of nowhere and I've got no clue where I'm at.

"I do a scan of the system and mark down my arrival point and find out that there's one planet capable of supporting human life, so I headed that way to figure out where I am and what's going on. No one answers any of my calls, I can't find any information on the planet itself and nothing comes up to greet me. I plotted a course to land away from civilization and investigate from there." Tamadon let out a breathy laugh and scratched the back of his head.

"Wait, where were you?" I'ra En asked, but he waved her question away.

"Getting there. So, I land, and a ton of people show up. I mean, these guys had to be military, and I'm just trying to make sure I can breathe the air outside and won't immediately die from foreign pathogens, so I can't greet them right away, but they're yelling basic at me, so I figured communications won't be a problem.

"Turns out I was on a planet called Earth, and my brilliant navigation system had stuck me in the next galaxy over. The guys who came to greet me were from a mixture of organizations, but I remember that NASA was the one who saw me coming, the CIA were the ones who showed up, and the Justice League were the ones I liked."

"This world must like acronyms." Tamadon burst into laughter at her comment. Of all the things to comment on and notice, _that_ was what grabbed her attention.

"Oh, you have no idea! Anyhow, the Justice League kinda works like the Jedi, except they don't really have the Force there and instead have a variety of powers instead. They're the ones who made sure I actually made it _off_ Earth without making anyone too angry and assured me that Earth wasn't interested in joining our known galaxy – they actually swore me to secrecy about it. Apparently, the Green Lantern Corps is some intergalactic police force or something, but stays away from our galaxy because of the Jedi, I don't know, I don't remember all of that too well."

"How could you forget even the smallest detail?!" I'ra En gasped, amazed that any part of that experience could have slipped his mind.

"Well, I spent most of the time in awe of the fact that I literally discovered a new world, and the rest of the time wondering why this one guy called Batman was dressed in this really dramatic and kinda creepy costume that covered everything except his mouth."

"Wait, are you saying that these people were human? There's human's outside of this galaxy?"

"Yeah. Green Lantern and I talked about it a lot. We figure that at some point in the last 50,000 years an alien race kidnapped a whole bunch of humans to use as slaves, and then ended up on Coruscant somehow. That would explain why the historical records on the human species is sketchy and why we're found across the galaxy with no exact point of origin. It's impossible to know for sure though, but it's a plausible theory."

"Yeah, it would really explain a lot." I'ra En trailed off. She was Hapan, and Hapan culture was based around the fact that pirates had kidnapped beautiful women from across the galaxy as slaves, and after the pirates were killed by Jedi the women took over in an iron-held matriarchal society.

"Earth also has this strange obsession with the idea that aliens will one day arrive and try to brainwash and eat them, or something, and are overall xenophobic despite the fact that there are three native species to the planet. It was honestly the experience of a lifetime, but before I left an alien called Martian Manhunter altered my memories so that I wouldn't remember all of this unless triggered by something. It was their way of making sure I didn't immediately spread news of their existence."

Tamadon pointed at the screen. "Apparently this counts as a trigger."

I'ra En spent a few moments absorbing the information, slowly developing a list of questions to ask him during the coming days.

"I want to go." She eventually managed. "This planet sounds really interesting, and I'd like to see it. Surely this Justice League gave you a way to talk to them, so you don't cause another panic?" Tamadon blinked at her, surprised by her immediate response – though he would later think back on the conversation and realize that it was a completely normal train of thought for his wife.

"I mean they did, assuming I still have the communications frequencies programmed into my personal comm. That's still old, right? I haven't gotten a new one in the past three years?" He pulled it out of his pocket and stared at the small device, unsure if he could trust his memory.

"That's still your old one. I've been bugging you about the quality of the transmissions for months." I'ra En raised an eyebrow at him, it was an ongoing battle that he was still winning through sheer stubborn pride.

"Then I can talk to them once I'm close enough. You sure you want to go? It a two-week trip just to get there and back, and I don't know how much of the actual planet we will get to see if the Justice League has to keep us away from the government like they did with me." She shrugged.

"Getting off of Hapes and through the Transitory Mists was hard enough, so I'm not going to pass up an opportunity like this. Me, the girl from an isolated system, getting to see a planet that no else in the galaxy will ever get to see. It sounds like a dream come true to me." If her smile was a little on the vicious side, then Tamadon couldn't blame her. The Hapes Cluster was not a place for someone who craves adventure.

"Well, I don't see why we can't go then! I'll have to talk with Visk, make sure he doesn't need anything delivered for a month or two, but shipments have been slowing down so it shouldn't be a problem." Visk worked with an industry on the planet Bothawui that required shipments of materials to and from other systems at irregular times, so it wasn't logical to have a permanent transport fleet. Independent agents like Tamadon were much cheaper to hire – although he still made enough to be comfortable.

I'ra En beamed up at him, blue-gray eyes shining, and Tamadon found himself falling in love all over again.

"We're coming up on the system, hyperdrive disengaging… Now!" Tamadon sat at full attention. It was always stressful going to mostly unknown systems, where you couldn't be _totally_ sure you wouldn't find yourself in a sudden head-on collision track with an asteroid.

Luck was on his side this time, as empty space greeted them. Distantly, a bright yellow star twinkled at them, and Tamadon could faintly see the large shadow of a nearby planet, its rings just barely visible.

"Is this the system?" I'ra En was completely enraptured by the data coming through the scanner, reading every bit of information as it scrolled up the screen.

"Yup. It'll be a few hours before we reach earth, I have to plot a micro jump to get to the asteroid belt, then another after we maneuver out of it." She nodded absently, only barely hearing him.

"It looks like there's eight planets in this system – or is there nine? The last one is tiny, but it has moons that orbit it, so I guess it counts as a planetoid. Earth must be the third planet in orbit though, since it's the only one that could be the right temperature. How long will it take for us to get there?"

"A few hours, two, maybe three. Just sit tight and give me an extra set of eyes, okay love?" Tamadon smiled as she looked up and out the viewport with an intense determination. Navigating asteroid belts was never easy, most of the time it was safe to just go over the field, since it was relatively planar, but there was no guarantee that the asteroids would stay there. Tamadon had almost been hit more than once when one of the massive chunks of space rock decided to float upwards. It was too risky to just hyper-jump over the asteroid field, and moving too far out of plane of the planetary orbit would increase the amount of radiation the ship was exposed to – nothing above what the shields could handle, but it was best not to put unnecessary strain on the ship.

After they passed Mars, Tamadon started broadcasting the signal that the Justice League had given him during his last visit. He was unsure when they would be able to pick it up but figured that it was better to broadcast sooner than later. Surprisingly enough, it was only a few minutes after he started the signal broadcast that the communications link was accepted.

"This is Martian Manhunter. Identify yourself." I'ra En jolted at the sudden emotionless voice and stared wide-eyed at Tamadon.

"This is Tamadon Naberrie. Batman gave me this frequency for communications purposes in case I ever returned to Earth. I visited here about three years ago, and recently had my memory jolted." Silence rained over the comm for several minutes, and they both sat on edge waiting to hear Martian Manhunter's response.

"I remember you, Tamadon Naberrie. Is there a reason for your return?" Tamadon pursed his lips. Somehow, in all their planning, he had forgotten to consider that he might not be welcomed to Earth again.

"Well, my wife discovered the coordinates and I wanted to prove to her that the planet existed. We honestly just wanted a break from the chaos of our galaxy to visit your planet." More silence.

"Mount Justice has a docking bay that can hold your ship. I will mask your ship's presence from civilian scanners, but you will have to wait for nightfall to descend. We will discuss the possibility of you visiting the planet once you have landed." The line went dead then, though Tamadon was sure that they would open the line again to guide his landing.

"Well that wasn't very hopeful." I'ra En spoke quietly, although her silent laughter was a giveaway that she found the situation humorous. "You really weren't kidding when you said this planet was isolated, were you? If this is their first contact system, it's a wonder they have any interplanetary interactions at all!" Tamadon laughed.

"They actually don't, not officially at least. Martian Manhunter and Superman were the only true aliens on the planet last time I was here. I think the Justice League mostly ensures that no one else can get _to_ the planet, so I'm not sure how much the group has changed."

"Ah. Well I hope they don't immediately turn us away… Although I can't really blame them if they do. We're basically asking them for a tour of their world, and I didn't consider how that would come across to an isolated world." She flushed, and Tamadon gave her a reassuring squeeze to the knee as he continued guiding the ship towards the blue and green planet, following the guide that Martian Manhunter had sent to the communications interface.

"We'll just have to figure out how to bribe our way in then."

Tamadon timed their approach so that they would breach the atmosphere after night had settled over that side of the planet. The rout that Martian Manhunter had sent to the communicator led them to a large mountain by the sea, a small city twinkling several miles away. The ship landed in an open area of the docking bay in the mountain, several other strange aircraft taking up most of the space. A group of costumed heroes waited for them, Batman at their head.

Once the ship was fully powered down, Tamadon led I'ra En down the ramp of the ship to greet the heroes, none of whom looked happy.

"Tamadon." I'ra En flinched at the gruff quality of Batman's voice, but Tamadon knew that that was just how he spoke.

"Hey Batman. It's been a while!" He forced a cheery smile. The only other Leaguer who _didn't_ look upset was Green Lantern, who was obviously trying to hold back laughter.

"Why are you here, Tamadon? I thought we figured this all out years ago." This was as close as Batman could come to sounding exasperated. Tamadon had the decency to look sheepish.

"I know. Listen, it's weird and I know you're probably going to say no, but I wanted to show I'ra En your planet. Introduce her to your culture. She's the one who found the old coordinates on my ship and jogged my memory, and I figured we could negotiate a trade." No one could ever claim that he wasn't talented at flying by the seat of his pants. He still didn't know what he was going to say next.

Batman tilted his head as a sign to continue speaking. "If you let I'ra and I experience your world for a week or two, even just a small city, then, uh – oh! I'd be willing to help translate our holographic technology over to your tech, assuming you still don't have holograms."

The League was silent for a few moments, and Batman pursed his lips. "We will need to discuss this. Captain Atom will show you to a waiting area, and I will let you know when we have reached a decision."

A tall man with in a silver suit with red gloves stepped forward, and the rest of the heroes quickly left the room.

"Please, follow me." His voice was deep, and I'ra En found herself captivated by the strange glow that seemed to emanate from him.

Captain Atom led them to what amounted to a break room. There was a few couches and chairs, and a strange black screen that sat against one wall. For nearly an hour, the three sat in a tense and awkward silence. I'ra En had tried to start a conversation with the other man but was given only one-word answers and annoyed looks, so she stopped. Finally, Batman and Martian Manhunter arrived.

"We have decided to accept your terms. You will both have to agree to learn about American culture and Martian Manhunter has volunteered to be your guide when you visit, but you will have to sleep here since you have no legal identification and the IDs that I will make for you will not be very intricate."

Tamadon broke into a massive smile, "Thank you Batman! You won't regret this." Batman looked at him sharply, as though threatening Tamadon to even try making him regret it.

"Your names are too unique to pass for normal Earth names. Are the names Taylor and Irene acceptable to you?"

I'ra En glanced at her husband and shrugged with a smile, "It works for me, even sounds like my name. I'm willing to do anything I can to help this go smoothly." She smiled up at the intimidating man before her, who nodded once.

"Martian Manhunter will start your introduction to America's customs and language now. We can evaluate your holographic technology tomorrow, Tamadon." Batman and Captain Atom both left the room, and I'ra En found her excitement growing at the prospect of learning about this new world. A world far different than any she had ever encountered before.

"If you would follow me, I am sure there is a conference room available for us to use." The green-skinned alien gestured for them to follow him, and Tamadon led I'ra En the first few steps towards their future.

 **Chapter 1**

 _March 19, 2012, 12:30 AM_

"Jane! Have you seen my glasses?" Raniero called from his room upstairs.

"No, Papa. Have you tried looking in your coat pocket?" Jane called back at him. The thirteen-year-old frowned down at her history notes. It was closing in on the end of her first year of high school, and so far all of her classes had just been a more detailed repetition of what she had already learned. Why schools did that, she would never know.

"Found them!" Niero called triumphantly down the stairs.

"Where?" Jane asked smugly, she already knew the answer.

"In my pocket." He answered. Niero had called in a half day at work to spend the morning with her – it wasn't every Wednesday that schools was canceled with a teacher in-service – but had a meeting a noon he couldn't reschedule.

" _Va bene_ ," He walked into the living room and patted down the pockets of his suit, making sure he had everything. The tall Italian man made a habit of speaking both English and Italian when he was home, resulting in a strange mish-mash of phrases that often confused outsiders. "I'm off to work, if you need anything just call me. I'll be back at five." He kissed her lightly on the forehead and turned to leave.

"Oh, hey Papa! Is it okay if Tasha and I go eat a late lunch with some friends at The Diner?" Jane asked after him. Natasha Barker had been Jane's friend for seven years, ever since they had first met in a beginner's combat-jujitsu class.

"Sure, there's money in my dresser. Well, I'm off! I'll see you later _dolcezza_."

"Bye Papa!" Jane called after him as he walked out the door, then she hopped up and started to get ready for the day.

Niero lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods within the limits of Star City. It was close enough to downtown that all of the major stores and businesses were within a twenty-minute drive, and safe enough that Jane felt confident walking to The Diner without worrying about being mugged.

The Diner was a small, modest restaurant that was famous for its pies and soups and located at the very edge of Jane's neighborhood, right where the city started and the residential area began. It was actually called Star's Family Restaurant, but local teens had nick-named it 'The Diner' years ago and the name had stuck. Natasha and two other people were already seated by the time Jane walked through the front door, and Jane easily made her way over to them.

"Jane!" Natasha called, jumping up and hugging her friend. Her short, straight, brown hair brushed the edge of her jaw and her brown eyes sparkled, eager to introduce her friend to these new people.

"Jane, I'd like to introduce you to Pamela Drane and her older brother, Adam. Guys, this is my best friend; Jane Naberrie." Natasha said, then sat down and scooted over in the booth so that Jane could sit down too.

"Nice to meet you two." Jane said, smiling as she sat down.

"They're from Central City." Natasha added. "I met them at school the other day and wanted to introduce them to you!"

"Yeah, our Dad just got transferred to the Wayne Tech/Queen Consolidated merger branch out here." The girl, Pamela, said.

"Really? What division is he? He might know my papa." Jane asked. They had to pause and place their orders as the waitress asked around, and Jane could feel her stomach rumble at the idea of their tomato bisque.

"Advanced Science Technologies. He's one of the new researchers. Who's your Dad?" Pamela answered her question after the waitress walked away, leaving behind their drinks.

"Cool, then our dad's _will_ be working together. My papa is Raniero Esposito, the guy who talks to the board of directors about getting money sent to the AST branch, and to convince them to put the new tech on the market." Jane explained, "He's the representative for the entire AST division."

"Wait," It was Adam speaking now, " _You're_ Mr. Esposito's daughter? Isn't he like, from Italy?" He asked, taking in Jane's dark blond hair, light grey eyes, and pale skin.

"Well, yes, sort of." Jane hesitated, not wanting to continue, but knowing she would have to. "My mom died when I was born. My _real_ dad was Taylor Naberrie. He was the head scientist and researcher at this branch of Wayne Tech. The only person higher up than he was is Niero, but they were best friends and worked together a lot. He vanished when I was five, but the police have never been able to find any hint of him. I've been with Niero ever since."

"Wow." Pamela said, "That really sucks. Does anyone know what happened to him?"

"No." Jane said, "I think that someone kidnapped him or something, cuz there was this really creepy guy who had showed up the day before, but the police never found any hints of foul play and I was five, so I wasn't a very reliable witness."

"Well, he could have been a sales person, trying to sell your Dad tickets to Hawaii for him and some bimbo!" Adam burst out laughing and Jane gripped her butter knife until her knuckles were white to keep from punching him. She didn't need to though. Natasha and Pamela both looked aghast, and Pamela smacked her brother as hard as she could.

"Adam you shut up! That was an awful thing to say and you know it! I'm so sorry Jane, just ignore him. He's being a jerk." Pamela glared at her brother, who looked smugger at having cause the upset than apologetic for being so rude.

Jane pushed aside the hurt she felt at the comment. Now was not the time to let her insecurities show. "I'm fine, Pam. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions."

The rest of lunch was spent awkwardly trying to keep a conversation going. Pam and Natasha did most of the talking, with Adam butting in sarcastically every now and then – much to their displeasure. Jane kept a smile on her face, but only really talked when directly addressed, her mind focused on the butter knife still clutched in one hand on her lap. They were all glad once the bill came, some for different reasons than others.

"It was nice to meet you Pam." Jane purposefully ignored Adam, she could be petty when she wanted to, "I hope you settle into Star well."

Pamela smiled sadly and waved, getting into the backseat of her mom's car, Adam having claimed the front seat.

"It was nice to meet you too Jane! I'll see you around!" Natasha stood by her side and waved as the car drove away.

"He's just some jerk, okay? Don't let him get to you." Natasha said.

"I know, Tasha. He's a straight up _stronzo_ and don't you dare tell Papa I said that." Jane chuckled lightly with her friend. "Besides, we don't know what actually happened. All I know is that my dad is gone, and he would do everything in his power to be here if he could."

Natasha nodded sadly. She knew better than to try and drag the topic out, and her friend seemed mostly okay at the moment.

"Well, it's no use dwelling on it now, what's done is done, no going back. I'm going to head home Tasha, but call me later, I don't think we have anything planned this weekend, so you could probably come over."

"Okay Jane. You call me if you want to talk about anything."

"I will." Jane smiled, "I'll see you tonight, but this time I'm going to beat you!"

"Ooo! It's on girl! See ya later!" Then the two girls walked their separate ways.

Jane fingered the butter knife in her hands while she watched Natasha walk away, feeling the dips and grooves that would match her fingers perfectly. Shoving the knife into her hoodie pocket, she started walking home, taking the scenic route.

 _Italian translations:_

 _Va bene - All right_

 _Dolcezza - Sweetie/Sweetness_

 _Stronzo - Asshole_


	2. Chapter 2

_**AN: Friendly note, pay attention to the dates at the beginning of each scene. I do a few flashbacks in this chapter, but there shouldn't be that many in future chapters. :)**_

 **Chapter 2**

 _November 9, 2002, Jane's House_

Jane sat on the edge of the kitchen counter playing with a rock she had found in the driveway while her father prepared their meal. She was four years old and Taylor knew that she was Force sensitive, it was almost impossible not to notice if you knew what to look for.

"Look Daddy!" Jane exclaimed as she made the stone float before her, then caused it to stretch out until it was about the size of a plate. Taylor stared at her in surprise. Of all the stories he had heard about Jedi, he had never heard that they were able to do anything like that.

"Good job Jane! How did you make it bigger?"

"I imagined me pulling it out like with play-dough, then I pretended to because I wanted it to and it did!" She answered as she made a motion a lot like wadding up a piece of paper, and the stone responded by crumpling up into a ball. Taylor stared at it, and then shook his head. There was no doubt about it; she was incredibly powerful.

"Jane, you have to promise me something." He said as he wiped his hands off with a towel.

"Yes Daddy?"

"Promise me that you will never tell _anyone_ about your powers, and if you ever use them make sure that _no one_ can see you. Do you understand?" Jane nodded, understanding that his request was very serious.

 _March 19, 2012, 4:33 PM, Niero's House_

Jane reached under her bed and pulled out the jewelry box she kept hidden under there. It was 4:30 already, so there was no use trying to practice now, Niero would be home soon and her jujitsu class started at 5:30. She slipped the butter knife into the box and slid the box under her bed before starting to change into her martial arts gi. To finish it off she tied the black belt around her waist that she had earned last month.

Seven years of training. Seven years, trying to make sure that the next time she saw the strange man who kidnapped her Dad he wouldn't be able to hurt her. And the entire time she had been preparing, practicing her powers, using them when no one was around, and ensuring that no one would ever find out about them. It was a rather lonely road, but she hardly ever slowed down long enough to think about that.

Jujitsu went without flaw: Jane beat Natasha in one duel and Natasha beat Jane in another, leaving their ongoing competition a draw. Afterwards Niero took both the girls out for dinner, and then dropped Natasha off on their way home.

"Anything fun or interesting happen today _dolcezza_?" Niero smiled at her through the mirror as he waited on a red light.

Jane thought over the dented butter knife, how she hadn't been able to straighten it out again over the course of lunch and was forced to bring it with her. She smiled at Niero, "Not at all, Papa. Just talking about summer plans with Natasha." Niero laughed.

"You two are thinking too far ahead. There is still the rest of the school year to finish! Is she coming over this weekend?"

"Yep! We have a poster to finish for our Greek mythology project in English."

" _Stupendo_! I will see if Shannon wishes to join us!" Niero winked at Jane through the mirror. She always teased him about how well he got along with Natasha's mother.

" _Vedremo_ , Papa. _Vedremo_." Jane laughed softly.

 _September 16, 2003, Jane's House_

"Jane could you get that?" Taylor called from the kitchen as the doorbell rang. Jane didn't have to answer him; he knew she would.

Knowing that it was good to check to see if the person outside was familiar, Jane opened the door just wide enough to fit her face in the crack.

The man outside was tall and wore a black suit with a thick tan raincoat over top. Jane thought that that was strange, since it wasn't raining and was very hot outside, but knew it was impolite to say so. He had shaggy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He was cleanly shaven, but that only made his hair look even more out of place.

For a brief moment his eyes registered surprise upon looking down and seeing the five-year-old girl, but there was no emotion in his voice when he spoke.

"Is this the home of Taylor Naberrie?" His voice was smooth as ice, and just as cold. He was definitely a 'no funny business' sort of guy.

"I'm not 'sposed to talk ta strangers." Jane replied, feeling shy.

"Well, I am no stranger to your father, so if you can get him for me, I'll be on my way." His voice was colder now, his words a little more clipped, and tiny sparks of anger flitted through his eyes. Jane didn't notice though, she just nodded and shut the door before running off to the kitchen.

"A stranger want's ta talk to you Daddy. He knows your name." Taylor's eyebrows immediately narrowed in worry.

"Well then, let's go see if I know him." Then Taylor followed Jane to the front door.

The moment Taylor opened the door he turned to Jane and got on one knee so that he was level with her.

"This is business, okay sweetie? How about you go and watch some T.V." Jane nodded, looking back and forth between the two men before scampering off into the living room. Taylor stepped outside and shut the door while he talked to the man. Ten minutes later Taylor came back in and sat down next to Jane, looking older than he had before.

"Jane, if you ever see that man again I want you to run and hide, okay? He is very, very bad. Do you understand? If you see him again; run and hide."

 _Chaos . . . Fear . . . Screams . . ._

 _White light burst from nowhere and everywhere all at once. Blindness, nothingness; the inability to see. The emptiness was white._

 _"_ _My boss says 'Hi'." BANG! The strange voice was drowned out._

 _March 21, 2012, Niero's House_

Jane sat up from her nightmare breathing hard and in a cold sweat. It was the third time she had had this set of dreams. The first was a memory, the second was the dream, and they always came in that pair. She glanced at the clock.

4:37 AM.

She didn't have to get up until six to get ready for school, but it was unlikely that she would fall back asleep. Jane took her time getting ready, not in the usual rush. For some reason she felt a sense of dread about starting the day, as though it would be the end of something. She shrugged off the feeling though, it must just be that her last year of middle school was almost over, right?

She caught the bus on time and sat in her usual seat near the front, plugging her headphones in in hopes of warding off any potential conversations. When the bus finally pulled into the school, Natasha was waiting by the front doors like normal.

"Hey girl! How's your morning going?" Natasha bumped her shoulder against Jane's hard enough to make the other girl stumble slightly.

"Fine." Jane grunted, still trying to get her brain to wake up. "Niero took me out last night to get the rest of the poster supplies, so we should be good to go for tomorrow. What time is your mom going to drop you off?"

"After lunch, I think." The girls stopped at Natasha's locker first, and she quickly picked out the notebooks she would need for the first half of the day, stashing the rest in the locker, "You okay? You seem a bit more out of it than normal."

"Yeah yeah. I'm fine. Just couldn't sleep well."

"I hear ya. This social studies test is going to kill me. Are you planning on bringing your notes to lunch? We could study together, since I have my test right after lunch."

Jane smiled and shoved her binders into her locker, keeping out the four she would need before lunch period, "Sounds like a plan to me. I'll see you at lunch then?"

"See ya then!" Natasha waved as she headed to gym class, and Jane made her way to health.

The rest of the school day was uneventful, following the usual patterns with science and language arts being the only things to look forward to, as they were the only classes that Jane shared with Natasha. The social studies test was brutal, but both girls were confident that they had been well prepared for it.

Jane glanced up from the timeline she was making as a car pulled into the garage. Niero was home. She hadn't told him about what had happened Wednesday with Adam and Pam, or about her strange dreams. It was no use worrying him about something he couldn't fix, and he would most definitely worry.

"I'm home!" He called as he took off his shoes in the mudroom.

"I'm in the living room!" She called back.

He walked in sat on the edge of the couch. A bright smile split his dark features and his brown eyes twinkled. He had a surprise of some kind and Jane felt her curiosity stir in her gut, the mischievous look he had usually resulted in some kind of adventure.

"How was work?"

"Eh, it was work. The new researcher is fitting in well and I am just waiting to hear back on the funding request I finished last week. How was your day?"

"Fine. Tasha and I had that big history test, but I think we did pretty good on it. Now what are you so excited about? You know I don't like guessing." Niero laughed, throwing his head back.

"Ah, I can never hide anything from you, can I _dolcezza_?" He winked at her, "I am simply _concitato_ for the weekend!"

"Nuh uh. You're never _this_ happy for the weekend. What's up?"

"Well," Niero answered, "I have been thinking. Summer is approaching, yes? But Memorial Day is sooner, and we have not started planning our trip yet."

"Yes! We _have_ to go to Lake Erie again, last year was amazing!"

"With all the raccoons? They ate all our food! And the rain made our tent collapse, are you sure you want to do something that crazy _daccapo_?" He was obviously leading the conversation somewhere, so Jane played along with it.

"Those are the fun parts though. If it was just a regular camping trip, then it wouldn't be any fun at all."

"Well, we must attempt to beat last year's then. I have heard of a state park on an island within Lake Erie, would that interest you at all?"

Jane gaped at him, "Camping, on an _island_? No way! For real?" Niero smiled at her.

"I would not joke about this! Our camping trips are very serious." Jane laughed.

"The most serious. How else am I supposed to learn how to survive in the great outdoors?" She stood up and hugged him tightly.

"So, you are happy with this plan?"

"Yes, I'm happy. _Molto felice_." Niero took a step back and smiled at the girl he had come to think of as his daughter.

"Buona! Now, it's Friday, right? I shall have to go get our gyros before the restaurant gets too busy. Do you want to come also?"

Jane glanced at the clock, it was almost six, so Athens Greek Restaurant was sure to be packed, giving her plenty of time.

"Not tonight. I need to finish setting up the supplies for the poster Tasha and I are going to work on tomorrow. Is that okay?"

Niero sighed dramatically, " _Mio caro_ , I suppose I can survive for another hour all alone. I will have to stop by the bank as well, so it may take a while, but I will be back shortly _dolcezza_!"

Jane waved from the window as he pulled out of the driveway, then rushed up to her room.

The new excitement and anticipation of their upcoming trip aside, she had been eager to test out her new ability for the past two days but hadn't had a chance to be alone until now. Pulling the box out from under her bed she flipped open the lid.

Inside was the collection of stones that she had kept over the years. A few raw and uncut gemstones, some interesting minerals, and some rocks that she thought were cool. One in particular always caught her eye; it was glowing softly, tinting the contents of the box a creamy blue color.

It brought back memories of the day before _the_ awful day, and now that she was older it made her think that her father might have been more unique than she used to think…

 _September 16, 2003, Jane's House_

"Jane, if you ever see that man again I want you to run and hide, okay? He is very, very bad. Do you understand? If you see him again; run and hide." Taylor said. Jane nodded, not fully understanding the seriousness of the situation, but knowing that she had never heard her father talk like this before; he was afraid of that man.

"Okay. Follow me, I have something to show you." Taylor led her out of the room and up the stairs that led to the floor that their bedrooms were on. Stopping in the hallway at the top of the stairs he looked at the wall. There were a number of pictures on the wall of Jane, Taylor, and of Irene. A few of the pictures were from Taylor and Irene's wedding day, and had been altered to resemble an Earthy pavilion, despite the fact the wedding had taken place on Naboo.

In the middle of all of the pictures was a narrow vanity holding a tall mirror, which Jane was just barely tall enough to look into.

"That man who was here is very dangerous Jane. From now on I want you to look through the living room window to see who is at the door. If you see him again I want you to come here to hide." Taylor took another step towards the vanity, "Behind this is a hiding place where no one will ever find you. Put you hand on this picture." Taylor gestured to the photo he had taken of them both the year before on her first day of Kindergarten. "Go ahead and try."

Jane stretched up on her toes and placed her hand on the photo. She was a bit confused at all this strange information, but understood that if the scary man came back she would have to come here to hide. After a second, the glass turned blue and a white line went up and down, scanning her hand. Then the light faded and the picture reverted back to normal. The vanity and the wall behind it popped an inch or two from the wall, and Taylor pulled it the rest of the way open revealing a faint glow coming from the room.

"You don't have to go in right now, but if you ever need to there is a handle on the inside of the picture to pull it shut." Taylor said, gesturing to the handle.

"What's the glow?" Jane asked, poking her head into the secret room.

"It's a mineral that's not very common, you can take some if you want." He said, watching as Jane caused a small square panel to pull itself from the wall and come to her.

 _March 21, 2012, 5:50 PM, Niero's House_

Jane lifted the fist-sized green stone from her box; it was her favorite of all the rocks that she had collected over the years, despite the obvious reasons. She had never encountered anything like it since her father had shown her that strange panic room, and whenever she touched it, it gave her a tingly feeling all up and down her arm.

The strange sensation seemed to focus on a spot at the base of her skull this time, which had never happened before. Putting the stone down Jane stared at her hand, which continued to feel as though it had pins and needles all over it. Jane rubbed the back of her head to try and get rid of the rather unpleasant feeling, but it just intensified. This continued until there was suddenly no feeling at all, not even in her toes, then stars exploded in front of her eyes. When the white finally faded from her vision, Jane felt as though someone had ripped out a piece of her heart. It was hard to breath, her heart ached, and what was left of her wanted to throw up what little she had had for lunch.

After several minutes the feeling faded from existence, leaving Jane feeling strangely numb. Glaring at the glowing blue stone and choosing to ignore the urge to panic, Jane pulled out the butter knife from the day before and set it on the ground in front of her. She didn't know what those strange sensations were, but she didn't like them and thinking about it made her hands shake, so it was better if she focused on something else until she was calmer.

There were still several indentations from where her fingers had been, and Jane could only guess that her abilities had extended to metal now, where they had previously been limited to stone. Placing the knife on the carpet in front of her, she concentrated on the metal, creating a mental picture of the knife and envisioning it stretching and smoothing out into a thin rod. Nothing happened. Frustrated she reached out to put it back in the box, but when she touched it the knife was soft. It wasn't as flexible as she could make stone, but more it was more bendable than normal.

Keeping the same mindset she physically smoothed and lengthened the knife until it was a rod. Molding the metal was difficult, as it resisted her movements and was more difficult to work with than cold clay. Eventually, though, she had rolled the metal and smoothed it to satisfaction, resulting in a thin rod about the length of her forearm.

Taking her new creation, she started to bend it into loops going around in a circle. The finished product had no seams or ends and resembled a flower.

Satisfied with the result, she set it down and glanced at her alarm clock. She was honestly surprised that Niero hadn't interrupted her work, but it was already seven and he was due to get home any minute.

She packed up her box and pushed it back under her bed, then rushed down to the living room and flipped on the TV. Niero had made an effort to introduce Jane to foods from around the world when he became her guardian. Since then, they had developed a pattern. Every Friday they would get takeout from an ethnic restaurant, with a different country picked each month – until they ran out of restaurants and had to restart the cycle. Sundays were always dedicated to authentic Italian though, and Niero had made it his life goal to make sure Jane knew how to make _proper_ Italian food. This month was Greek, and the little shop that made the best gyros in town was always busy with people, but the food was worth it. Even so, Niero should have been home by then.

Jane didn't start to truly worry until half past seven, and by eight she was calling his cellphone every couple of minutes, but not once did he pick up.

What if there had been a car accident? Just as Jane was about to check the local news for any traffic disturbances, she heard a car pull into the driveway and a door slam shut.

She ran to the front door and looked through the curtains in a panic. They weren't expecting any company tonight and there was no way that it was Niero because _Papa would have parked in the garage_. Identifying the person walking up to the door, she felt her insides turn to ice.

The cop outside the door had just raised his hand to knock when Jane opened the door, and the other officer behind him looked equally surprised, then visibly dejected. Any hope that she had was lost when she saw the look on their faces, and a black hole open in her heart at the different things that this could mean.

The police officer who was closer to her cleared his throat and lowered his hand, "Is this the home of Mr. Raniero Esposito?"

"Yes." Jane said slowly.

"Then, are you Miss Jane Esposito?"

"It's Naberrie actually. Jane Naberrie."

"I'm Officer Lane and this is my partner, Officer Matthews," He showed her his badge, "Is it okay if we come inside for a moment?" Jane hesitated, reluctant to let any unknown person into her home, but eventually nodded and opened the door wider. Once the door was shut, she turned back to the officers.

The cop who had introduced himself as Officer Lane lowered his eyes for a moment before meeting Jane's gaze, "I'm sorry, but there was a robbery at the bank on fourth street. The robber had a gun and managed to fire several times before police could apprehend him. Your guardian died while paramedics were attempting to revive him." It took Jane a few seconds to process what he said, and when she realized what he meant she almost collapsed.

"Are you okay? Miss? Here, sit down for a moment. Let us get you some water." Jane resisted his gentle guidance to lead her into the living room.

"Take me to the hospital."

The officers shared a look, "I don't think that that is a good idea Miss Naberrie." Officer Matthews said. She gave him a sharp look, ignoring the way her limbs were shaking.

"I need to go to the hospital. I need to see him."

"I don't think you're allowed to –"

"Please. Please just take me to him?" She could feel herself breaking inside. She already knew that it was him. She knew it in her bones, her papa was dead. She had to go though. She needed to see it with her own eyes.

Years later, she would look back and realize that the strange numbness and pain that came over her that even occurred at the same time as Niero's death. At the moment, however, she was in such a daze that she remembered nothing of the ride to the hospital. Only that one moment she was climbing into the backseat of a police car and then suddenly they were there.

The trip into the hospital was just a memorable, and she had to practically force her way into the morgue. Officer Matthews stayed with her the entire time but didn't say much, choosing to be a silent support instead.

All of items Niero had on him at the time of his death were in neatly labeled evidence bags, lined up on an otherwise empty counter. Niero himself was laying on an examination gurney, covered in a simple white sheet, looking paler than any human ever should.

She was only there for a matter of seconds. Just enough to take in that it was, in fact, Neiro who had died. Then the coroner was pushing her out of the room, growling at Officer Matthews.

She found herself sitting in a waiting area next, the policeman sitting next to her, waiting for her to show any awareness to the situation. Apparently shifting in her seat did the trick.

"Is there someone we can call that you can stay with?" He spoke softly, despite the fact that no one else was around.

"Yeah." Jane rattled off Shannon's name and phone number, which the officer carefully wrote down.

"I'm going to step into the hall for a moment, okay? I'll be right back, and if you need me, I'll be right around the corner." Jane nodded.

Officer Matthews let out a silent sigh and heaved himself up, his partner was nearby, making sure no civilians came this way.

Sure enough, whisper shouting could be heard coming down the hallway.

"I don't care who you are, that girl is my responsibility now and I need to see her!" A woman in a brown pantsuit with a pinched face was hissing at Officer lane, who in turn was staring at her in obvious disdain and barely concealed anger.

"'That girl' just received some very traumatic news, and until you calm down I will not let you anywhere near her."

"Everything okay here?" Matthews interrupted their argument, only to be speared by the woman's hawk-like glare.

"My name is Sarah Stevens, and I am with Child Protective Services. I was informed that the victim's daughter was a minor and has no next of kin."

"Well that's more information than we had." He fixed Sarah with a hard stare, because this woman was just about breathing fire and the little girl in the other room needed a more empathetic personality at the moment, "We were told to inform Jane Esposito of Raniero's death, only to find out that she was his thirteen-year-old ward. We handled the situation as best we could, but she is currently grieving and asked me to call a family friend to stay with." He held up the paper with the phone number Jane had given him. Sarah nearly snatched it out of his hand.

"She is a ward of the state and can only go to a state approved home!"

"And I'm sure that the people who will answer this phone call can apply for temporary guardianship until a suitable home can be found." Miss Stevens bristled, then deflated.

"Yes, they can. Give it to me, I'll call them, since apparently I'm not allowed to do any other part of my job." She glared at the two officers. Pulling out her cellphone, she paused. "The girl specifically stated that the people who pick up this phone have permission to hear of the situation, right? Because I can't break confidentiality rules. And what's the person's name?"

There weren't many times that Officer Matthews had lied on the job, but he took a chance and told the most volatile lie of his career, "Jane said that they have permission to know about everything, and that the woman's name is Shannon."

Sarah nodded and dialed the number, "Hello, is this Shannon?… My name is Sarah Stevens and I'm with Child Protective Services. Unfortunately there has been an incident, and I was wondering if you were willing to apply for temporary guardianship of Jane Naberrie." She paused for a long moment as the other woman spoke, "I'm afraid I can't tell you that yet, but if you could come to Star General Hospital to fill out some paperwork for me, I'm sure Jane would be willing to tell you. … Yes, thank you. There will be an officer waiting for you at the door, and he will lead you to us. I will see you soon."

Sarah hung up her phone and glanced at the officers, noticeably calmer than she had been when Officer Matthews had arrived.

"You should probably head back to Jane. I'll go to the reception desk to wait for this Shannon woman, and Ms. Stevens can ward off anyone not supposed to be back here." Sarah made a face at the idea of being put on guard dog duty.

"I'm afraid that's what we have to do, Ma'am. You told Shannon that there would be an officer waiting for her, and Jane needs someone familiar to be with her, but we can't risk reporters or civilians sneaking back here without authorization, so we need someone to watch this entrance. The media have already started interfering with the case and they don't need to come anywhere near her."

Sarah nodded, "I suppose I can wait here until Shannon gets here. We will need to run the paperwork and make sure her background check is clean before Jane can go home with her though, and if it doesn't then I will need to take Jane with me." They both nodded, but all three silently hoped that that wouldn't happen.

Jane looked up when Officer Matthews returned with two cups of water. He had been gone for a while, but she couldn't find the will to ask him why as he handed her a cup.

"Shannon is on her way. Hopefully she'll be able to take you home tonight, but I need to warn you that that might not happen if she has something on her record." Jane nodded, only half hearing him, "Is there anything I can do to help right now?" He asked after a pause.

Jane felt her throat close up. Just breathing made her want to vomit, so she focused on the cup in her hands and shrugged. He settled into the seat next to her and didn't ask her anything else, for which she was eternally grateful. She found herself leaning against his arm slightly, unconsciously seeking comfort. Officer Matthews seemed to understand though, and wrapped one arm around her shoulders in a loose hug.

That was how Shannon found them over an hour later. The paperwork that the CPS woman had her fill out had been extensive and time consuming, but Shannon knew that it was one step closer to allowing her to take Jane in long term. Lord knew that she had been through enough already, spending the next five years in foster care would not help her in any way.

"Oh sweetie…" The barely restrained tears were suddenly released as the dam broke. Jane jumped up and barreled into her, clutching her tightly as she sobbed. "Shhh, I'm here. Just let it out." Shannon brushed Jane's hair out of her face and gently sat to the ground, pulling the girl into her lap.

The officer who had been sitting next to Jane when Shannon arrived set a cup of water and a box of tissues next to them before retreating to the hallway Shannon had entered from.

Jane eventually cried herself dry and spent several minutes gasping and hiccupping while trying to calm down.

"Why… Why does this keep ha-happening to m-me?" She eventually managed.

"I don't know, honey. But Tasha and I will be right here for you. You can come and stay with us for a while and I'll take care of everything, okay? I've got you." She tucked the young girl's head under her chin and rocked gently.

"We… We were gonna g-go camping at the lake ag-gain." Shannon hummed and kept rocking. These next few weeks were going to be a special kind of torture as she watched her daughter's best friend suffer so deeply.

"Miss Barker?" The CPS agent from before was calling to her softly from the hallway. Shannon turned to Jane, who was still holding her tightly.

"I need to go for a moment, okay honey? Will you be okay for a few minutes?" Jane nodded and stood up, shuffling over to a chair against the wall. Once she was sure that Jane would be okay for the time being, Shannon headed over to the hallway that had been designated as the 'conference hall.'

"Can I take her home now?" Shannon didn't leave an opening for any other possibility.

Ms. Stevens shifted uncomfortably, "For now, yes. We're still waiting for the complete background check to go through, but all of your preliminary checks have come back with positive results. My supervisor has given me the go-head to give you temporary custody until we can find a proper foster home for Miss Naberrie."

"What do I need to do to be approved as a permanent guardian for Jane?" Shannon pressed.

Sarah stared at her for a long moment, then sighed, looking rather exhausted. "Miss Barker, you seem to be a very kind woman, and if it were up to me I would give you all the hope in the world about Jane's situation, but you are a single mother. Jane has had a very troubling life so far, and any judge assigned to her case is going to do their best to place her in what they deem to be a stable home, and your history with the girl aside, your home will not be evaluated as that. I'm not saying that you can't try, I will help you with all the necessary paperwork, but I need to be frank with you. Due to your age and lack of husband, it is highly unlikely that you will be approved for guardianship. If this was Gotham, it would be different, but Star City CPS works with the state and heavily vets all foster homes; and if there isn't space within the city we will find a home outside of Star that is deemed suitable."

Shannon ground her teeth, her insides cold and her skin feeling hot with shame. This wasn't the first time she regretted being a naïve sixteen-year-old, not that she ever regretted keeping Natasha, but she should have known better than to trust her then-boyfriend to 'pull out.' This was, however, the first time that she felt completely helpless because of those actions. Shannon couldn't even find it within herself to be angry at the CPS agent, she only had herself to blame.

"I want to try anyways. Jane's life hasn't been easy, and she has a hard time making friends. Putting her in a group home is the worst thing that can happen, and if I have even a chance of helping her stay in a familiar environment I want to take it." Shannon tried to keep her voice steady.

Ms. Stevens nodded, "I'll get everything ready for you, but we'll be searching for a foster home for Jane immediately. Mr. Esposito's accounts have been frozen, but I would suggest speaking to a lawyer on Jane's behalf to make sure that his estate can cover funeral costs and any debts he has. That's not my area of expertise, but Jane is a minor and the procedures for paying off the estate are different. Since you are her temporary guardian, you should be able to access _only_ the required funding." Sarah handed her a folder, which Shannon assumed held the legal documentation proving that she was responsible for Jane until further notice.

"Thank you, Ms. Stevens. Let me know when you need me to stop by your office for the rest of that paperwork." The two women shook hands, and then the police officers escorted Shannon back to Jane, saying that they would accompany her to her home to fend off the press.

"Hey, honey. Let's get you home now, I'm sure that Tasha is waiting for us." She wrapped an arm around Jane's shoulders and guided her out of the room.

The first thing Jane noticed when they got out of the hospital was all of the people. Reporters, cameramen, other social media workers, and tons of people who were just standing there; until Jane and her escort started to make their way to the patrol car. Then almost every one of them tried to shove something in her face as they shouted questions at her.

Jane ducked her head as the officers started pushing people away, and Shannon hurried her towards where she parked her car.

When they arrived at Natasha's house, Jane had barely stepped out of the car before Natasha was there hugging her tightly around the neck.

"I saw it all on the news." She whispered, "I'm so glad they let you come here." Then both girls were too choked up to talk, and as Shannon waved a thank you to the police officers she helped the girls inside.

 _March 26, 2012, Natasha's House_

Jane lived in a daze for the next few days. She didn't speak, hardly ate, and barely slept. If she was able to sleep at all she had nightmares and woke up soon afterwards.

After five days at Natasha's house she was woke up one morning to find Shannon in her room laying a simple black dress on her bed.

"Hi, honey," She said gently, "Today's the funeral. Tasha picked out a dress for you."

The funeral, Jane had almost completely forgotten that it had to happen so soon. She vaguely remembered Shannon having her sign some papers days before, but she must have taken care of everything, which Jane was immensely grateful for.

Jane put on the dress and Natasha helped her with her hair, but no one asked her if she was okay and some of the tightness in her chest loosened at not having to answer.

No one spoke on the way to the funeral, and while she could remember speaking at the ceremony she would never be able to recall what she said. Lots of people greeted her and gave her empty words of comfort, but Jane couldn't find it in herself to make the mental effort to remember any of them. Afterwards the people who were closest to Raniero stayed for the burial.

Jane watched as her father's casket was slowly covered with earth while the priest solemnly spoke, waiting until she had to drop a fistful of earth on the lowered casket. It was finally almost over, the people who were still there left one-by-one after giving her their condolences.

There were very few people left at this point, Natasha, Shannon, and two or three others, when Jane noticed a stranger standing a little ways away. It was a man, standing next to a large monument. He wore a black suit that fit in with the rest of the mourners, but there was something about the way he stood there, just staring at her. Or maybe it was something else, but he seemed _very_ familiar…

 _Italian Translations:_

 _Stupendo - Wonderful_

 _Vedremo - We'll see_

 _Concitato - Excited_

 _Daccapo - Again_

 _Molto Felice - very happy_

 _Buona - good_

 _Mio caro - My dear_

 _*These are all from google translate. If you have a better translation/grammar knowledge, please let me know!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 _March 25, 2012_

It was _him_. It was the man who had showed up the day before her father had vanished! Nothing about him had changed, other than his clothes, and Jane was about to turn around and call for help when she was distracted by another well-wisher offering their condolences. By the time Niero's co-worker had left, the strange man had vanished, but that was only the beginning of Jane's troubles.

Thinking about finding the man was out of the question as the next person walked up to Jane. It was a woman that she had never seen before, wearing a black pantsuit with her dark brown hair pulled back savagely. All of her facial features were narrow, giving her an overall pinched look, but there was a regretful look in her eyes as she approached.

Clearing her throat to make sure she had Jane's full attention she started talking, "Miss Naberrie, I am Sarah Stevens and I would like to start by offering my condolences and saying that I am terribly sorry about the timing of all this. I'm from Child Protective Services, and while your guardian left his estate to you, he failed to leave you to anyone he would have liked to be your guardian upon his death. Unfortunately, you are now a ward of the state until you turn eighteen, and Miss Barker has not been approved to be your permanent guardian."

Sarah continued talking about some legal terms and such, but Jane was no longer listening. It was obvious enough what was going to happen to her, and foster care was the last place on earth Jane wanted to be.

"We found a foster home for you that I think you will be comfortable with. It's a very kind family, and the couple has two children around your age, not to mention that they only live a few hours away so you can still visit your friends from time to time. Here, this folder contains some information on them, that way they won't be complete strangers."

Jane didn't answer as she took the manila folder; there was no point in doing so. There was absolutely nothing that this woman could say to make this situation any better, and the more she talked, the worse it became. Sarah cleared her throat.

"Well, I guess that I can pick you up this coming Monday? That should give you enough time to pack. Yes?" Sarah didn't mention that that was the most time she could afford to give Jane to stay with the Barkers, knowing that the young girl wouldn't want to leave them so suddenly. Besides, Shannon had temporary custody for seven business days, so it was still technically legal. "Well, okay then, I'll see you in five days' time."

Then Sarah spun on her heel and walked away with her head held high.

"Jane! You okay? Who was that chick?" Tasha asked, walking up to her friend.

"Children Services." Jane managed to whisper, still trying to get over the shock of what was happening.

"Oh no. You're not saying…" Tasha left the sentence unfinished as Jane nodded. "Today?! Really? Of all the possible days that they could have approached us about this, they chose today?"

Jane never got a chance to answer as Tasha hugged her tightly.

"When are they coming back?" She whispered into her friend's hair.

"Monday." Jane mumbled in reply.

"Come on. Let's go home, you're tired and everyone's gone, so there's no point in staying." Natasha walked Jane back to her mother's car, which was already started in anticipation of the two girls.

It wasn't until after they pulled out of the cemetery that Jane spoke up.

"Can you please take me home?" She asked. Shannon looked at her through the rear-view mirror.

"Of course Sweetie. Would you like us to stay there with you?"

"No. I just… I just really need some time to think and… and say goodbye."

Natasha gave Jane another tight hug as they both got out of Shannon's car in front of Jane's house.

"You've got my number. Do you want us to stop by tomorrow?" Tasha asked.

"No, I need some time to think and pack. If you could come pick me up on Friday night, that would be okay." Tasha nodded, not questioning Jane's need to be alone for so long and walked back to her car.

"We'll be here. Take care, Jane."

Jane went inside and watched her best friend drive away as she set the folder Sarah had given her on the table. Leaving it there, she walked upstairs and cried herself to sleep.

 _Images, faces, feelings. A middle-aged blond woman with understanding eyes, one arm wrapped around her husband's waist, the other stretched towards Her, welcoming Her with a strange, sorrowful-cheerfulness. Two boys, sixteen and twelve, stop playing basketball to welcome Her also. The older was serious, but caring, while the younger was already planning ways to tease her in a friendly way. A very short period of happiness, then, darkness. Terror. Screams. The happy family on their living room floor, each with a bullet in the head._

 _Then came the pain. Physical. Mental. Emotional. Pain, it was the only thing that existed. Darkness was the only reality; the rest of Her life was a distant dream. The whole time, She knew, it was somehow Her fault. This wasn't the only way, though. There was a way to escape this fate. But that chance had passed, and now, She was starting to believe the darkness. She had forgotten the light . . ._

 _March 27, 2012, Jane's House_

Jane sat up in bed as a scream tore through her throat. She was completely drenched in sweat and was shaking uncontrollably. Her breaths came in ragged gasps that never satisfied her need for oxygen. After several minutes her breathing started to even out, but Jane's hands were still shaking. She glanced at the nightstand, 5:03 am.

Jane had had nightmares before, they weren't that uncommon, but this one was different. It was like the dream she had had the night before, but the content was different. It left her _knowing_ , just _knowing_ , that this would happen if she stayed.

Jane shivered as the cool morning air attacked her damp skin once she climbed out of bed and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Fumbling for a moment to find the light switch, Jane turned on the light and squinted as it momentarily blinded her. Then she stripped down and let the hot water of the shower wash away her worries for a moment.

After she dressed and succeeded in pulling her hair into a braid, Jane headed downstairs for some much needed breakfast. After hardly eating for more than a week, she was ravenous. There was no milk or eggs or anything else that spoiled quickly in the house. That had been one of the first things that Shannon had done after Niero died when it became obvious that Jane was in no state to do it herself. Settling for a toasted peanut-butter sandwich and a cup of tea, Jane had a bland, yet satisfying, breakfast. Once the tea and most of the sandwich was gone, Jane spared a look at the manila folder on the edge of the table, where she had left it the day before.

Carelessly flipping the top open, Jane let out a shriek and flung the folder away from her. It was _them_. It was the family from her dream. Jane was certain that she hadn't opened the envelope, just as she was certain she had never seen those people before. Yet last night she had dreamed about them and, more importantly, their deaths. ' _How is this possible?_ ' Jane couldn't help but think to herself, and then she almost slapped herself. She could control rock with her mind, how was this _not_ possible?

Now there was a bigger problem though, Jane had no idea what on earth she should do with this knowledge. Then she scoffed at herself, she didn't even know if this _was_ knowledge. For all she knew, she might have accidently glimpsed the photo and had a nightmare about it later. Grabbing the folder, Jane settled down to gather more information.

By the time she was finished, Jane felt sick to her stomach. The blond mother, Andrea, was forty-two and had given birth to a stillborn girl eight years prior. What stood out to Jane the most though, was the information on the boys. Alex was sixteen and Caleb was twelve. Alex was one of the star players on his high school's varsity basketball team, and Caleb looked to follow his brother's footsteps. Whenever Caleb wasn't practicing basketball, he was pranking his brother and proving to be everyone's favorite class clown. In all, it made Jane sick to think about. It wasn't just some random dream. Somehow she had dreamed about these people and their personalities before having ever met them, and in this dream, she would cause their deaths. Jane couldn't help but wonder what she should do to stop it.

With nothing better to do, and still unsure what she should do about this new development, Jane set about to packing up a suitcase of her belongings.

Jane knew that most people would think that she was crazy if she told them about her dream. Natasha would blame it on stress and depression while Sarah Stevens would probably smile and nod in a patronizing way and then laugh about it after she dropped Jane off.

She could leave. The thought surprised her so much that Jane had to stop packing to think about it. There was no way anyone would believe her without Jane admitting to having superpowers, and there was no way Jane would willingly break her promise to her dad.

' _For all I know, I_ can _see the future…_ ' With that thought Jane almost started crying again as she remembered her dream about a man being shot, and how that had been the night before Niero had died. Quickly dismissing the idea so that she wouldn't start blaming herself, Jane thought about the logicality of running away. She had the survival skills; Niero had taken her camping at least once a month in good weather, where he had also taught her how to survive off of nothing but what the great outdoors offered, and they owned all of the camping supplies. Niero always kept close to one thousand dollars in the safe under his bed – his way of being prepared in the case of an unexpected emergency – and the ATV had a full tank of gas. It was plausible, but more importantly, it was the only idea she had had so far in which no one was physically hurt.

Her course decided; Jane started packing with a new heart and a new goal.

Everything was packed up in less than eight hours. All of Jane's belongings that she chose to keep were limited to two large suitcases and those, along with her camping supplies, were then loaded into the small trailer that was hitched up to the ATV. The small WayneTech fridge that ran on cans of pressurized liquid nitrogen contained the few perishable foods that Jane was willing to bring, while cans of nonperishables would make up the rest of her diet. The metal briefcase containing Niero's emergency funds was stored under the seat of the ATV and Jane could think of nothing else to bring. The only thing that was keeping her from leaving at this point was guilt at the pain she would be causing to her only friend. She would never be able to forgive herself if she just left without an explanation for Natasha. Finally steeling herself and admitting that she was actually doing this, Jane sat at the table and started writing a letter to Natasha.

 _Dear Tasha,_

 _You know me better than anyone else; you know I'm not a thrill-seeker, and that I never do things without good reason. At the burial I saw the man who I believe kidnapped my father; I know that it was him. I was not hallucinating and I'm not making it up. Tasha, this man has been present at the worst times in my life; my father's vanishing and now my papa's funeral. I don't know why he's always there, but I know that if I stay, then the people I care about will continue to be hurt, and I can't take it anymore. I can't let the people I love die because that man has some weird obsession in ruining my life. You are my best friend; you will always be my best friend. I will miss you dearly, but this is not goodbye, I will see you again._

 _Friends, Always and Forever,_

 _Jane_

Folding the letter and putting it in an envelope addressed to Natasha, Jane placed both the letter and the metal flower she had made on the stairs just inside the door. Then she found herself collapsing on her father's bed and falling asleep in preparation for the following day.

 _March 28, 2012, Jane's House_

The next morning, Jane took a final walk around the house, making sure that she had everything she needed and wanted, then she went to the backyard and strapped on her papa's helmet. Instantly she was enveloped by the scent of his favorite shampoo and felt just a little bit safer. The black helmet with the full-face tinted visor would easily hide her identity from any people who happened to see her, and that would enable her to travel farther before she was caught.

After double-checking that everything was secure one last time, Jane looked into the woods and picked a trail at random. The trails only went a few miles deep into the woods before Jane had to start the off-road part of her journey, but that simply meant that there was a smaller chance of running into people.

For more than three weeks Jane traveled this way, avoiding populated areas by staying away from the roads marked on her GPS and stopping at remote gas stations only if she was in desperate need of something, but always disguising herself so that she wouldn't be recognized. Jane had almost been caught during one of her first stops, when a bulletin had been playing on the news advertising her disappearance. She had started heading East after that, her northern journey cut short by a curious bystander who had probably alerted the local police to her presence.

She hadn't been caught yet though, and Jane was rather proud of herself for that fact. She knew that she had crossed at least two state boarders and was currently somewhere in Northern New Jersey. The towns were getting bigger and closer together, and Jane knew that she should pick a new direction soon, but somewhere along the way she had decided that she wanted to see the ocean first, so she kept going.

 _April 25, 2012, 5:40 PM, The Batcave_

 _Beep! Beep! Beep!_

The computer screen started flashing red as an alarm blared loudly from the speakers.

"What is it?" Jason asked with the mild hope that Two-Face hadn't escaped again. He had just been let back onto patrol, since Batman didn't want him out while any of the major crazies were at large.

"Proximity alert." Bruce stated, wearing slacks and a t-shirt, caught in that awkward stage between work and training because it was too early to fully gear up, "Someone is close to a back entrance of the Batcave." While Jason privately chuckled at Dick's nickname for the dark lair of the Bat, Bruce started pulling up security footage for the area. One of the small boxes on the screen was quickly enlarged and focused on a moving figure. A four-wheeler pulling a trailer was navigating the wooded area with practiced ease. The girl driving it had covered practically every inch of her body save the long blond braid that hung out of her black helmet.

"Four-hundred feet and closing." Batman stated, seemingly unworried by the whole situation.

"Shouldn't one of us, I don't know, go and try tuh talk to her?" Jason asked, already knowing the answer.

"You."

"Fine. I'll go get changed." Jason stood up and started to walk away.

"No. If either Batman or Robin show up in the middle of the woods she may get suspicious. If she's not already."

"Wa'duya mean Bruce?"

"I mean that she might be working for the League of Shadows, maybe even the Light."

"Oh. So I'm just Jason Todd, takin' a walk around the Wayne property and when I see her I'm just gonna ask her tuh leave all nice-like?"

"Yes."

"Well then, let's see how this works."

The four-wheeler let out a spluttering sound before stopping in its tracks. Jane tried to start it a few times before noticing that the fuel gauge read below empty.

"Well that's what you get for not paying attention, you dim-whit." Jane muttered to herself as she checked the trailer for her spare gas can. In all, she had less than a pint and knew that it wouldn't get her very far.

Using the spare gas, Jane maneuvered the four-wheeler so that it was parked next to an exposed rock face and put her helmet in the trailer. After putting on an old baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses, she grabbed her backpack and backed up several paces.

Tuning her senses into the rock that surrounded the vehicle, Jane started to manipulate the rock. She had gotten rather good at it in the past three weeks and it took a lot less concentration to pull the wall of rock out of the ground and carefully lean it against the boulder on the opposite side of the four-wheeler.

Lowering her hands from their position above her head – she had to pantomime the physical action of controlling the stone – Jane adjusted her backpack and turned around, only to freeze. A boy, probably in his mid-teens, was standing twenty feet away, and from the look on his face Jane had no doubt that he had seen everything she had just done.

Breaking out of his state of shock, the boy took a step back, then turned and started running. Jane moaned in despair and started to chase after him. There was no way that she could allow him to get away, not after what he had just seen.

Almost as soon as she started running after him, Jane could tell that there was no way she would be able to catch him, he was a lot faster than she was. With this in mind she focused on softening the ground right where he was about to place his foot. As soon as his foot landed and sunk partway through the earth Jane hardened it again, holding his foot in place. Unfortunately, his shoe was the only thing that stayed there. The rest of the boy went flying forward and landed face-first in a heap.

Jane was on him in an instant, tackling him as he tried to get up. After a bit of tussling in which she realized that the boy was _far_ stronger than she was, Jane managed to get the upper hand by sitting on his stomach and practically wrapping his arms and legs in dirt and stone.

"Who are you? Tell me your name!" Jane demanded as she held the boy's shoulders down to stop his thrashing.

"Jason Todd." He spat at her. Glaring from his position beneath her.

"No." Jane stated quietly, her entire body completely rigid, "Crap, crap, crap, crap, _crap_. No way. There is _no way_!" But as Jane stared at Jason, she slowly began to check off items on the long list of things that he had in common with Jason Todd, newest addition to billionaire Bruce Wayne's family. Green eyes, black hair, the ability to fight due to years on Gotham's streets.

"Don't run. _Please_ don't run. I have to explain before you go and tell everyone." Jane begged Jason as she carefully released his shoulders from her grasp. At his sleight nod, Jane released his arms and legs from the earth as well and got off him, sitting down a short distance away.

"Well?" Jason prompted impatiently, "Start explainin'."

"You can't tell anyone about my powers. Then people would try to get me and recruit me to whatever side they're on and I'm not good enough to fight off anybody." She ran a hand through her hair, pulling off her hat and then resettling it on her head again. "And if you tell people that I'm here in general I'll have CPS searching for me more, and I really shouldn't have come this far east cuz there's too many people." How could she possibly explain the situation without making him think she was crazy? "I ran away from them in the first place because I think I'm being targeted and it was the only way I could make sure more people wouldn't die."

"Why do ya assume that?" Jason asked, suspicious as hell and knowing that Batman was probably already suited up and watching the situation, waiting for the right moment to intervene.

"When I was five my dad vanished, and the day before he vanished a creepy guy had stopped by to talk to him. Last month my guardian was shot in a bank robbery and that same guy was at the funeral. It, well, it scared me, so I left. I figured that the best way to stop other people from getting hurt was to avoid people altogether." She shrugged, leaving out the more intense details and feeling her face heat up at having to tell her life story to a total stranger.

Jason nodded. Her story seemed genuine, though it was pretty abnormal. A plan started forming in his head, and hopefully Bruce wouldn't insist on turning her in to the authorities, "Tell ya what. I'll help ya get in and out of Gotham, but then you gotta leave. Where ya going anyways?"

"Well, I never really planned it out. I wanted to see the ocean before heading south, but Gotham is _not_ a place I planned to visit. No offence." Jane looked up to see Jason smirk and nod at her logic, "Now I have to get gas somewhere before I can head in any direction."

"Well, Wayne Manor has lots of spare gas cans. With gas in them of course."

"Yeah." Jane nodded, "And I bet it also has the best security system available to mankind." It was Jane's turn to smirk while Jason let out a laugh.

"Yep, you got me there. Either way, I can't let a pretty lady wander 'round the woods, let alone _Gotham,_ by herself. I'll show ya a good place to get fuel that ain't too far from your ride." Jason held out a hand to help Jane get up, mentally preparing himself for Bruce's lecture that was guaranteed to come as soon as he returned to the cave. Even now he could practically feel the cave's cameras tracking his movements as he navigated through the woods with her.

After a good ten minutes of walking and small talk, they reached the edge of Wayne Manor's manicured yard. Jane automatically stiffened but soon relaxed when she realized that Jason wasn't going to lead her into the field, and instead followed an iron fence that seemed to mark the boundary of the property. Following the tall fence for another minute, they came upon a section with a large maple tree next to it.

"Climb over the fence here so that you're on the outside of the property, then follow it till ya see the gate. You're on the inside of the fence right now and this is the only exit that isn't monitored. There's cameras all over the gate so wait till I get out before going near it. I have to go tell Bruce I'm going to the city and not to get his panties in a wad looking for me. Don't worry; I won't tell him nothing about you. See ya soon Doll!" And before Jane could say or do anything Jason started jogging to the top of a nearby hill and over it to whatever lay hidden beyond.

Shaking her head and muttering to herself about how she was stupid for trusting him so easily, Jane started to climb the tree and dropped over the side of the fence.

Jason pushed through the back door and into the kitchen, almost face planting into Bruce.

"Damnit Bruce! Back up a little, would ya? You make the same impression from the table as do you right in front of the damn door."

"Language, Master Jason. I believe that you now owe me fifty cents." Jason flushed and muttered an apology to Alfred.

"What are you doing?" Bruce was two steps off of a growl.

"Listen, I don't think she's a spy or nothing, you know there's gaps in the fence on that side of the property, and now her ATV just ran out of fuel, so she can't leave until she gets some. I'm just gonna take her into the city to grab enough to hold her over, then she can leave and no one will be the wiser. I'll swallow a tracker if it makes ya feel better." Bruce narrowed his eyes, clearly not happy about the situation and thinking over the possible answers.

"She should be sent to a foster home, not wandering around exposed to the elements. Did you get her name?"

"No, I didn't get her name yet. And you know how well the system treats _normal_ kids, Bruce. She's got a superpower, who's gonna wanna take her in unless she keeps it a total secret?" Jason felt his stomach clench at the idea of anyone getting put into Gotham's foster system.

Bruce dropped his arms from where they had been crossed against his chest, clenching and unclenching his fists. "Stay here." Jason stood in the kitchen awkwardly. Alfred was still puttering around the stove, putting away dinner and getting ready to start making after-patrol snacks.

Less than a minute later, Bruce returned and handed Jason a small pill-shaped tracker.

"Swallow it. I want to put a wire on you too, and at the first hint of trouble you are to activate your panic button, am I clear?"

"Yes, sir." Jason swallowed down the tracking device with the glass of water that Alfred handed him, then let Bruce fix the button-sized microphone to the inside of his collar. He then grabbed his bicycle out of the garage and rode it down the driveway, dismounting to open the gates and then close them behind him.

He pushed his bicycle and walked forward with purpose. After making it a good hundred feet from the fence he slowed to a stop and looked into the surrounding foliage.

"Okay Doll, I'm out of range of the cameras. Don't walk out until you're next to me."

"I already am, and why do you keep calling me 'Doll'?" Jane asked as she pushed her way out of the bushes next to him. Too busy pulling thorns out of her pants to notice his surprised look.

"How did ya sneak up on me like that? I was listening for ya to see if you were following, but I didn't hear nothin'." Jason asked.

Jane huffed and answered, "I had already walked down a little before you came out and didn't have to move very much to get to you. Now why do you keep calling me 'Doll'?"

"Cuz you're pretty like a China Doll and you never told me your name." He answered with an obviously flirtatious grin, which was quickly wiped off his face when she snorted and punched his upper arm none too gently.

"Nice. I suppose that I should call you Ken from now on." Jane replied with a positively wicked smile.

"Absolutely not! I don't care if you call me Jason or Jay or Jase or Todd, but I ain't no Barbie."

"Fine," Jane rolled her eyes, "It's not the worst I've been called."

"You're not going to tell me your name?" Jane hesitated, then shook her head.

"I'd rather not advertise that I was here if you end up telling people about me."

"Alrighty then." Jason wasn't gonna force her to answer, though Bruce was probably going to be pissed that he didn't try harder, "If you want to stand on the wheel pegs behind me we can ride to West 4th street, stash the bike there, and grab a cab to get to Owen's General Store. They'll have anything you need so long as it's not too fancy."

"Umm, okay." Jane replied and carefully climbed onto the back of the bike, making sure to hold onto Jason's shoulders while remaining a respectful distance.

It took about ten minutes of riding to get to the spot where Jason wanted to stash his bike and another five in order to find a taxi that was willing to stop and pick them up.

Once they arrived at the store, Jane wandered around and looked for the things that she needed. Halfway through her list, Jason received a phone call.

"Hey… Mmmhmm… Yeah… I'm at Owen's… I know… Umm, sure. Probably… What?... Okay… Fine… See ya." When Jason finished his call he turned to Jane with an apologetic look on his face, "Sorry, but Bruce really needs me to go to his office. Something about paperwork that needs to be transferred for school and I need to sign it.

"Just catch a cab to West 4th and ride my bike to the Manor, you remember the way?" Jane blinked and slowly nodded, they had only turned once and there was a pretty noticeable oak tree next to it, "Leave the bike by that maple tree I showed you and you'll be golden. Make sure that the taxi you get isn't 'Five Star' or 'Finish Line'. They're both rip offs. I'll see you around. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah. You too." Jane said, and then Jason was gone. Finishing her shopping Jane pondered why Jason had left so quickly. It was really weird, and she was more than a little worried that he had told someone about her and that they were on their way, but she forced the thought from her mind and hurried to the register. She made sure to buy a gallon of gas, which would be enough to get her to a gas station out past the Manor and would be able to go from there.

Walking out of the general store, Jane shifted her book-bag to adjust for the extra weight before starting to walk down the street while looking for a cab.

After walking less than a block Jane was greeted by the sight of a man bursting out of the glass doors of a bank one block down. He had a bag slung over his shoulder, held a handgun in one hand and a woman in another. Pointing the gun at the poor woman's face, he started to drag her down the road, away from Jane.

When she realized that no one was going to try and help – that people were actually turning away from the screaming woman – she let out a groan and started to chase after the man, bookbag thumping against her back. Unhindered by neither age nor a hostage, Jane caught up to the man just as he entered an alley. She paused at the entrance, out of sight for the moment, and expanded her senses. She could sense the two sets of feet in the alley, but she could also sense another two pairs of feet running towards her from farther down the road. Focusing further, Jane was able to tell that one set of feet were much smaller, and seemed to be running on their toes. Running on their toes, exactly like Jason Todd had been when he was running away from Jane earlier. He must have gotten a cop to come and get her. Jane let out a tired sigh and walked into the alley before she could change her mind. She needed to end this fast so that she could get out before Jason and the cop arrived, then the cop would be busy with the robber and she could make her escape.

The woman had been thrown up against the alley wall and the man was fumbling with his bag, trying to open it and point the gun at the woman at the same time.

Jane's foot accidentally hit the edge of a can and the man quickly pointed the gun at her in surprise. Getting a good look at his potential attacker, he sneered.

"Get lost blondie. This ain't none of your business and I would hate to have your pretty little face smeared all over this road." Jane didn't bother responding and instead lifted her arms, focusing on trying to close up the inside of the gun and jam it. The man very quickly grew frustrated at Jane's refusal to leave and let go of his hostage long enough to pull back on the top part of the gun, which loaded a bullet into the barrel.

Jane was starting to get worried and was thrilled when she finally felt the metal give, softening and warping around the bullet to trap it in place.

He pulled the trigger and the weapon backfired into his hand, stumbling backwards with a pained cry. Jane quickly started to soften the ground beneath his feet, ignoring the bile that tried to rise up her throat at the sight of his hand. He let out a high pitched shriek when he suddenly sunk up to his knees in asphalt that hardened around his shins. The man swore loudly and without reservation before looking up and throwing his gun at Jane. It bounced onto the ground a good three feet in front of her and she was about to make a sarcastic comment when she sensed two sets of feet stop in the opening of the alleyway. With a sense of dread Jane turned to confront Jason and whatever cop he had brought with him.

Nothing in all of her years could have prepared Jane for the sight before her. Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo. Gotham's Defenders. They were standing in front of her, both prepared to fight and Jane was at a loss for words. As she tried to stammer out an explanation Jane also tried to figure out how she could have ever confused Jason for Robin. When she got a good look at his face though, the pieces snapped together. Robin's face had paled, the lenses of his mask were wide, and his mouth was opened just slightly. Robin and Jason were the same person.

"You… You're!... But you left… How?!" Jane's thoughts were racing too fast for her to complete any of them, but Batman had heard enough to realize that Jane had identified his partner.

Before Jane could say anything that would reveal Robin's true identity to the two civilians in the alley, Batman threw a marble sized ball at Jane. It detonated on impact and released a dense green fog that made Jane cough uncontrollably. Unable to resist the anesthetic's effects, she collapsed on the ground and quickly succumbed to the darkness around her.


	4. Chapter 4

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-align: center; line-height: 115%;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Chapter 4/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"April 25, 2012, 8:49 PM, The Batcave/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Throbbing. That was the first thing that Jane was aware of. The pulsing in her head that echoed with every heartbeat. Slowly she became aware that somewhere nearby, a person was talking. That made her head hurt even worse. Unable to stifle a groan Jane turned her head, trying to distance herself from the voices./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10.0pt 1.0in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10.0pt 1.0in;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"~span style="mso-tab-count: 2;" /spanspan style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span~span style="mso-tab-count: 2;" /spanspan style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span~/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Hold her still. She's coming around." Batman ordered Robin, the latter holding the girl's hand to a scanning tablet./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What do we do when she wakes up?" Robin asked. Batman proceeded to ignore the question and kept doing whatever it was he was doing at the computer, "Figures." Robin muttered under his breath. The girl groaned again as he placed her hand back onto the examination table and secured it. Robin had tried to convince Batman that the restraints weren't necessary, but if Batman was anything he was stubborn. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Watching her eyes flutter open, Jason turned to Batman to tell him that she was awake, but Batman was already on the other side of the table shining a light into her eyes./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It doesn't look like she has a concussion." Batman stated before he moved back to the computer bank and began to type again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10.0pt 1.0in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10.0pt 1.0in;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"~span style="mso-tab-count: 2;" /spanspan style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span~span style="mso-tab-count: 2;" /spanspan style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span~/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane opened her eyes and blinked, trying to clear her vision. Her head was pounding and her eyes refused to focus; this wasn't helped when a bright light was shone into her eyes and Jane couldn't see anything, not even the vague blurs that had moved around previously. Then the light was gone and she still couldn't see as her eyes took their time adjusting./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane tried to reach up and rub her eyes with her hands when she realized that she couldn't move. She struggled to sit up and was faintly aware of metal cuffs on her wrists and ankles when gentle hands pressed her shoulders back onto the table. She focused all of her energy on seeing who it was who was restraining her, and Jane's breath caught in her throat when she realized that he was wearing a black mask./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"On the verge of hyperventilating she struggled against her bonds; eventually remembering that she could control the metal. Jane weakened the joints until she was able to pull her hands and feet, cuffs and all, off of the hard table. Rolling off of the 'bed', Jane got her feet under her and collapsed. Her legs felt like jelly. She then scooted backwards on her hands and feet until her back hit a wall. It was at this point that her eyes started to work again and Jane got her first real look at her… captors. There were two of them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The first thing that she noticed was how strangely they were dressed and how familiar they seemed. They were both men, though one looked closer to her age. The older one was dressed in all black with a gold belt and pointy ears protruding from his cowl. The boy was dressed in bright red and black, and also wore a black cape./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Batman and… Robin?" Jane questioned, trying to force her mouth to cooperate, "What… What happened? How did I…" Jane trailed off as memories began to form in her mind./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""How much do you remember?" This was . . . Batman speaking./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Nothing, no, a little? I don't know!" Jane huffed in frustration as she tried to make sense of what was going on. Resting her elbows on her knees she clutched her head in her hands./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It's okay, take your time. There's no rush." The kid – no, Robin – said gently. He was obviously not happy about something, but he was dealing with it much better than Batman./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I think I was in the woods." Jane started, "No, I was in an alley. And there was this couple, no! The guy had a gun!" Jane started to panic, not sure what had happened./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""The man is in police custody. We were able to get him out of the asphalt with the loss of his pants and shoes. The woman is shaken, but fine. What happened next?" Batman cut into Jane's panic with a dead tone which oddly calmed her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I was… expecting someone to show up, but then… Oh. Crap." Jane trailed off as she stared at Robin and the memories came flooding back. How could Jason Todd, the most recent addition to Bruce Wayne's family, be Robin? Then Jane reflected on what she knew about him and his past. Jason was born on the streets and had quite a bit of raw fighting skill, given his criminal record. When Wayne adopted him and seemingly pulled the boy from thin air, it had caused quite the uproar among the elite of Gotham, which in turn made local news in other cities, Starling included. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Turning to Batman, Jane asked, "So if you found him on the streets and he somehow became Robin, how did you convince Wayne to adopt Jason?" For a moment, Batman honestly looked surprised at the question, but that moment quickly passed, because Batman em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"never/em looked surprised./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We know each other." Was all he replied, "What is your name?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Jane Naberrie." She replied simply./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Your last name sounds familiar." Batman said as he walked over to his computer bay, which took up a fourth of the wall, and started typing./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, I've been on the news a lot recently. After my papa was shot in a bank robbery I ran away, so CPS made sure to make it a big deal on a lot of news stations." Jane said quietly, not sure how this would change the hero's view of her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I know that. I thought that your name was familiar the first time I heard it on the news. Why run from Children Services?" Jane shifted as she began to realize that she was honestly being interrogated by Gotham's Dark Knight. It was not a comfortable feeling./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Promise you won't laugh?" She eyed the two men cautiously. After they both nodded she continued, "I already told Jason about how my dad vanished and the weird guy who showed up right before that was at my papa's funeral, but I was honestly really out of it by that point in time. The real reason I left was because I was given a folder by this CPS agent about my future foster family. When I got home after the funeral I didn't open the folder, but I had a nightmare about a family that was nice and then they all ended up dead and I was in a lot of pain. Can't really explain that part, but I do know that when I opened that folder I was staring into their faces em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"after/em I woke up. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I don't understand how I dreamed about them before I even saw them, but even though it doesn't seem like it could be related to my power I wasn't willing to risk it. I left the next day and a few weeks later, while I was at a gas station getting some milk, I saw a news report about a break-in at theem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" same family's/em house. The intruder left a big muddy footprint in the guest bedroom that would have been mine, walked around the room a little, and left. Without taking anything. So, that kind of cemented the whole 'I can sometimes see the future in my dreams' thing and I kept heading northeast-ish. Not to Gotham specifically, but I thought it would be cool to see the ocean. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""With all that said, please understand that if you stick me at an orphanage or with a foster family, I will run the first chance I get and you'll be stuck chasing me till I turn eighteen and you don't have the legal right to do so." Jane stuck her chin out stubbornly and glared at Batman's back./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That's not an immediate problem." Batman stalked over to Jane a leveled a glare at her that illustrated why so many people feared him, and Jane quickly lost all pretense of stubbornness, "The immediate problem is that you know Robin's secret identity. Something most em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"heroes/em aren't aware of. Something that could get three civilians killed because you are either a spy, or villains will find you and get you to tell them." Jane paled at the idea and quietly spoke./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm not a spy. I've never broken a law before or even met someone who has."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That remains to be seen. I don't have a lot of time on my hands so you will either have to wait em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"here/em for me to be able to confirm your innocence or let Martian Manhunter suppress the memory of your discovery. Or you can let him lightly scan your memories to confirm your innocence."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane shuddered. The idea of some stranger – hero or not – messing with her mind was not pleasant. "I can wait for a little while."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""How far do your powers extend?" Batman's change of topic threw Jane off balance for a moment, but she was quick to regain her train of thought./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Don't know. Two months ago I couldn't control metal." Jane held up her wrists which still had the restraining cuffs on them, "Now I can. Sorry about that, I might be able to fix it later. I never really had a lot of time to practice using my powers, so it's kind of a learn-as-you-go process."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Can you tell where we are?" Batman asked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Ummmm . . ." Jane placed her hand onto the smooth stone ground, which she was still sitting on, and extended her senses through the earth, "Well, we're in a cave, maybe five hundred feet below ground. There's a bunch of bats everywhere, a big space that way, aaaannd, I think that there's somebody… standing in that space?" Jane gestured in the direction of the ceiling above the door and stared at it in confusion. Without even waiting to see if Jane was done speaking, Batman walked out of the room and the door slid shut behind him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Letting out a heavy sigh, Robin slowly peeled off his mask and rubbed his eyes before walking over and sitting next to Jane on the ground./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Ignore him. He's had his panties in a wad all day and is absolutely convinced that you're a spy for The Light or something since he recognized your last name."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What's 'The Light'?" Jane asked, mimicking Jason's tone./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Don't ask. Long story and Batman would kill me if I told you without asking him first. I wasn't even there for it, nope. I only know what em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"he's/em told me." Jason snorted humorlessly, "I've been Robin for like, a month and someone's already figured out who I am. He's been Batman for almost fifteen years and no one's figured him out. Hell – em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Nightwing/em was Robin for six years and nobody figured him out either!" Jason huffed and glared at the wall. Jane nudged him with her elbow./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm Jane." She said, offering her hand, which he shook after staring at her for a moment./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10.0pt .5in;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0in 0in 10.0pt .5in;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Robin." He answered with a smirk, letting his previous anger drain away./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""If it makes you feel any better, you're the first person em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"ever/em to see me use my powers. Not even Papa knew about them. Dad made me promise not to tell anyone and I've kept it, well, until now. Sorry I blew your secret, if I could, I'd forget it – em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"without/em anyone in my head." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""So you are adamant about not letting Manhunter repress your memories?" Batman asked from the doorway. Jane jumped a little bit since she hadn't heard the door open./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yes. My memories are the only thing left that are just mine. No one else has any claim to them, and no one ever will." Jane stated, holding Batman's glare, then wilting a bit and looking at the floor./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You do realize that you will have no outside contact what-so-ever and will have to be bound at night to ensure that you can't move."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She shifted, not comfortable with the idea, but not willing to give in to the other options, "I can live with that for a while." Batman stared at Jane for a moment longer before turning back to the door./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Let me know if you change your mind. Robin, follow me." Robin stood up from his spot on the floor next to Jane and walked out of the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane remained on the floor and twiddled her thumbs, unsure what she should do. Then she realized that the metal cuffs were still on her wrists. It took about ten minutes before Robin – still mask less – returned to the room, and by then she was done with the restraints and had them neatly set beside her on the floor./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Sorry about the wait. Batman just had to brief me on what I can and can't tell you. Mostly can'ts, but hey, it's been a long day." The entire time Robin was speaking he was looking at the ground. It wasn't until he stopped that he finally looked up at Jane./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It's fine. Long days happen pretty often around me, but I have to admit that today reaches the top three." The two fell into a fairly awkward silence until Jane spoke again, "I need to ask this now while I still can. What should I call you? Robin or Jason or do you have a nick-name you prefer?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jason huffed a laugh and rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, if I'm wearing my mask call me Robin, if not you can call me Jason. The only nick-name I have is 'Little Wing', which Nightwing gave me, and I really hate it, so don't ever use that one."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I know what you mean." Jane said with a half-smile, "Sometimes kids at school would call me 'Little Orphan Annie' or 'She-Demon' and I hate both of those too."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""'She-Demon'? How did you manage to get that one?" Jason asked with a bewildered expression./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, kids at school would call me 'Little Orphan Annie' and I'd generally ignore them cuz I really didn't care. One time though, this baseball player thought that it'd be funny to smack my butt and suggested that I 'go find some rich guy to buy me like Little Orphan Annie did,' so I broke his nose. I'm lucky I didn't get suspended or anything, but since it was after school while I was waiting for my papa to pick me up the school couldn't do anything. It stopped everyone from calling me Orphan Annie though, so I'll take it."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jason stared at her for a moment before guffawing in laughter, causing Jane to chuckle. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""So I take it that my previous assessment of you being a china doll is fairly inaccurate?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I mean, I'm not made of stone or anything, but I'm tougher than I look. Just don't try to break me and I won't try to stab you." Jane raised her eyebrows to show she was joking, and Jason chuckled./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Then I promise not to try to break you." He said, "No promises on Batsy though. He's as stubborn as he is paranoid and if he decides that you are a threat, you're up a creek with no paddle and a hole in the boat."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, that's a happy thought." Jane said sarcastically. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, well," Jason cleared his throat, "I'm actually supposed to be giving you a tour right now, or do you want to wait?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Now's fine. Unless you'd rather do something else." Jane said, trying to hide her excitement. After all, who wouldn't want a tour of Batman's secret lair?/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Nope. The room that we're in right now is the Batcave's Med Lab. I don't know what exactly it's for other than X-Rays and crap, but B wanted to make sure you didn't have any tracking devices on you when we got here."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Batcave? Seriously?" Jane asked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yep, it's an actual cave." Jason stated./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No, I'm talking about the name. Little kids always run around and say stuff like 'to the Batcave Robin!', but I never thought that that was the actual name."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, me too. Nightwing was like, eight when he first became Robin, and he named everything then. Batcave, Batmobiel, Bat-Cycle, Bat-Wing, Batcomputer, bat-a-rang, bird-a-rangs for Robin. I'm not allowed to show you where the armory is, but Nightwing's throwing knives have been dubbed 'wing-dings' according to him." They both burst out laughing at the ridiculous name and Jane followed Jason out of the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"On the other side of the door was a dimly lit hallway that stretched in both directions, although it went much farther to the left. Jason turned right and Jane followed him to the open doorway at the end of the hallway and up a long metal staircase that only had two metal handrails to keep you from falling to your death. The massive room beyond the hallway looked to be a natural cave that had several levels of metal landings, which each had closed rooms attached. It was impossible to tell how much space was actually in the cave, but it had more open space than any cave Jane had ever been to, including her trip to Mammoth Cave when she was ten. The stairway kept going up until it reached the highest landing, though Jane couldn't see most of it since a large metal wall stood at the edge and stretched to the right, the only open part was the twenty feet of space to the left of the stairs. Jason walked out a few feet so that Jane could fully stand on the landing and get a good look at everything before he started talking./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""This is the main part of the Batcave, at least, the part we use the most. The computer is over here," Jason gestured to the right, "don't touch it without Bat's permission, he'd probably have an aneurism. Don't touch his car either, his reaction would probably be worse." Jason said car, but when Jane saw the thing directly in front of her, it looked like a tank, "The tunnel in front of the car is an exit, but it has the mother-load of motion detectors and you need about fifteen access codes to get through on foot. Same as the staircase in the back." Jason gestured at an enclosed set of stairs at the very back of the cave, though only the first few steps were visible before the stone walls blocked her view./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jason started walking to the right and Jane attempted to follow him, but ended up tripping on the corner of a step. She banged her knee on the floor and glanced up, hissing in pain. There were four steps leading up to the computer Jason had mentioned, but it wasn't like any computer Jane had ever seen before. Three massive screens covered a large part of the metal wall with more than six other, smaller, screens on either side. Where a normal keyboard should have sat was a massive, U-shaped control system with more buttons and keys than Jane had ever seen in one place in her life. Everything was powered down though, so it cast a large shadow across the floor which covered the stairs, hence Jane's fall. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"In the couple of seconds it took Jane to take in the super-computer, Jason had appeared by her side to help her up. When she was standing and sure that she hadn't cut her knees, Jane turned to him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Jason, I'm pretty sure that Batman will never have to worry about me touching that computer. I think that I am going to have an aneurysm just looking at it." He followed her gaze before chuckling./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, I think my thoughts were pretty similar when I first came down here. Come on, I have to show you the trophy room!" Jason continued following the curve of the metal walkway past a bunch of other doors until he came to the end of the walkway where your only options were to either turn around or go into the room to the left. By this point he was practically bouncing he was so excited to show her whatever room was next. Turning left to follow Jason into the room, Jane froze, unable to comprehend what she was actually seeing./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She was standing on a circular balcony that stretched around the edge of the room. The floor of the room was at least twenty feet below her, but a gigantic dinosaur's head was still even with her own. It appeared to be a T-Rex, and its teeth were em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"huge./em Jason stopped her before she went any further into the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I can't let you onto the floor, but you can see a lot from up here." Jason said, trying to play it cool, but his smirk proved that he was failing miserably as he watched Jane's surprised face./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Why does Batman have a dinosaur?" Jane asked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I don't know. Batman never comes to this room unless it's to add something, which hasn't happened with me yet, and Nightwing is always too busy to really talk with." Jason said bitterly as he shrugged off the question, but Jane was too busy looking at the thing to really notice his change of tone./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanAlso within the room was a seven-foot-penny and a human sized Joker card (everything else was too small to see clearly). Jason didn't know the stories behind many of the items, and he wasn't allowed to tell her anyways. Simply stated, "This is where Batman keeps all of the crap that is too weird for the cops to handle and no one wants to deal with anyways. It's also to remind him and Nightwing of all their victories or something. Supposedly it'll do the same for me after I add some stuff down here during my time with the Bat, but I haven't dealt with any of the really weird cases yet." Jason led Jane out of the trophy room pretty soon after that. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Going back to the main room, Jason led Jane made an immediate right into the hallway next to the 'forbidden staircase' that Jane wasn't allowed up. The narrow hallway was cut into the side of the cave, and lights automatically turned on as they walked to the end of the passage and through the open doorway. That room also lit up as the two teens crossed the threshold of the door./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""This room is actually important to you." Jason said, "The locker room is the only room in the entire Batcave that doesn't have any cameras, but there are several listening devices, so don't sing if you don't want him to hear." Just as Jane opened her mouth to interrupt, he continued, "Don't ask. I really have no idea why he put listening devices in the bathroom. He's paranoid. And weird. But mostly paranoid./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You are actually going to be the first girl to ever use this place. There aren't any individual shower stalls, just four showerheads in that walled off area. They are set up in a square, but only ever use the front left one. The back-left showerhead sprays em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"really/em hard and it hurts, the front right one only trickles, and the back right showerhead is the one we use if we get covered in any really gross stuff on patrol. Each showerhead has its own control knobs that you turn counter-clockwise to turn on with 'off' being straight down and 'really hot' being at the forty-five-minute mark if you think of it like a clock. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Since we haven't had any girls down here before, it might be a little bit awkward for you in here. However, we only ever use the locker room really late at night after patrol, so as long as you aren't in the shower at like, three or four in the morning, you should be good. There are four toilet stalls to the right, and none of the lockers are claimed. Batsy, Wing-nut and I only use them to hold towels while we are in the shower."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Wing-nut?" Jane was content to just let Jason ramble, but sometimes she couldn't follow his references./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""My nick-name for Nightwing. Don't tell anyone or say it in front of him, he'll kill me."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Why's that?" Jane asked with a sly smile./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jason smiled secretively and replied, "Long story. I might tell you someday." He then proceeded to glance around and spin in a circle to make sure that he wasn't forgetting anything. Satisfied, he turned back to her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Okay then, follow me."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Like I could do anything else." Jane snarked at him. His only response was a smirk and a raised eyebrow. Back in the main room, Jason led Jane down a wider passage to the left of the forbidden stairs. This one was better lit with several doors leading off to the left and plenty of space between them. The fifth door down the hall was actually a set of double doors and Jason stopped here. He quickly typed in an eight-digit code to the right of the doors, and the two stepped through together./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The room beyond can only be described as the most well-equipped training room ever. Or at least that Jane had ever seen. The entire floor was covered by a blue padded mat and several benches rested near the steel walls. Pedestals of varying heights stood in a line against one wall, along with a balance beam that had an adjustable height. There was plenty of gymnastics equipment including uneven bars and some strange contraption that had two metal rings attached to ropes hanging from the body of it. Sparring equipment, fake weapons, and a rock wall were spread throughout the rest of the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is that for, over there?" Jane asked, pointing to the right half of the room, which was covered in white tiles, ceiling, floor, and walls./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Nice. You saw that pretty fast. It doesn't have an official name yet, but I call it the Sim Station. All of the tiles are independently controlled in color, shape, and texture. Some of the tiles have space behind them for drones or explosives to be released. There is a control booth against the wall and all Batman has to do is plug in whatever settings he wants and the area will re-arrange itself to match the commands. The level of difficulty can also be adjusted, so he can practice too. Makes for a wicked hard obstacle course." Jason smirked, "In case you haven't figured it out yet, this is our main training room. We have two others in different areas, but Batman will probably want to test your abilities here, so you'll have plenty of time to get to know the equipment. Chances are he's going to wake you up at six tomorrow just so that he can test you, so be prepared." Jane nodded absentmindedly and continued to gaze around the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, then. I guess that's all we can do in here for now. There's still one more room I have to show you that you need to know very well. So hurry up! I have to go soon." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You're the tour guide. If we're late for whatever it is, it's your fault, not mine." Jane teased as the two walked out of the gym. Jason led her to the very first door in the same hallway, which opened automatically when they stood in front of it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The room behind the door was all in shades of white and grey, which was pretty much the rest of the cave too, but there was an emphasis on the white this time. A bunch of medical monitors were in one corner, and eight computers were in the walls. Six hospital gurneys lined the wall to the left with computer screens in the space between them. Various medical equipment was placed strategically throughout the room, making everything appear as open and welcoming as a medical ward could possibly be. Everything was perfectly placed and there wasn't a single smudge of dirt anywhere, despite the fact it was deep within a natural cave./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Welcome to the Med Bay! We've got just about everything here, and I don't know how to use a lot of it, but it's pretty cool." Jane walked into the room a little bit further and took a closer look at the beds. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You can choose to either sleep in here or in the detainment room." Jane almost jumped out of her skin when Batman spoke. He stood in the doorway, next to Jason, and his presence caused an obvious stiffness in Jason's posture. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""There are restraints on the gurneys that I trust can hold you, and if you choose the detainment room, we have ways of blocking your powers." Batman glared at Jane almost expectantly. It was like he was waiting for her decision. Oh wait, he probably was./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Here's good." Jane managed to say, still under the full wait of his glare. The man definitely had intimidation tactics mastered./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You'll be bound and blindfolded whenever Robin and I are not in the cave. During these times, the full security system will also be active, so if you do manage to get out of this room, you won't get far. It is currently 10:30 PM, Robin and I are going out on patrol, pick a gurney." His tone allowed for no argument, but she was honestly exhausted and still suffering from a headache, so Jane walked up to the third gurney away from the door and tentatively sat on the edge. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The gurney – bed, it was her bed now – was surprisingly comfortable, which contradicted its stiff appearance. Jane slid her sneakers off and quickly braided her hair over her shoulder before laying down and adjusting the pillow and blankets. Once she had relatively stopped moving, Batman walked over and pulled the bottom of the blanket up from the end of the bed before carefully strapping her ankles into separate bindings. There was no metal whatsoever on the bed (which was surprising, but everything was surprising with Batman) and the straps seemed to fuse together somehow with no obvious seams. Her hands were likewise restrained at the wrists on either side of the bed. There was enough excess material for her to be able to move her arms a little bit and readjust in her sleep, but it would be physically impossible for Jane to bring her hands together to undo the bindings herself (which was Batman's goal). /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jason pulled the blanket up to her shoulders before he joined Batman at the foot of the bed. Batman – who was typing something into a computer screen at the base of the gurney – didn't glance up as he spoke. "We will return in a few hours, this computer system will monitor your movements and heart rate. If you are not asleep by then I will administer an anesthetic for the night." He turned to leave./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I thought that you said I would have to be blindfolded as well?" Jane called after the pair. Batman didn't pause until he had reached the doorway./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Only when necessary." Then they were gone. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The blackness that followed the lights turning off would be complete if it wasn't for the computer screen at the foot of Jane's bed. Closing her eyes, Jane let the events of the day finally settle on her as exhaustion swept away what little awareness remained./span/p 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 _April 26, 2012, The Batcave_

Waking up the next morning was disorienting to say the least. Jane couldn't move her arms or legs and it was so dark she couldn't see anything. For several terrifying moments she feared that the darkness that haunted her dreams had finally found her, and it was only a matter of time before the pain started. When at last she recalled the events of the day before, Jane was more relieved than she thought possible, strapped to a gurney in a dark cave. She was still exhausted, and not quite sure what had woken her up, but falling back asleep just wasn't going to happen.

Ten minutes and an eternity later, Jane began to wish that Batman or Jason would wake up soon. She had to pee and her teeth needed a good brushing (which she hadn't done the night before, and it would be _fantastic_ if they had a spare toothbrush). It was then that the lights slowly turned on, which was good, because it allowed her eyes to adjust without being blinded. Less than thirty seconds later, Jason walked into the Med Bay wearing sweat pants and a white tank top.

"Good morning sunshine! Are you well rested and prepared for your first day of torture?" He asked, far too cheerfully.

"What time is it?" Jane asked, ignoring the question and secretly hoping that he was just joking and not actually hinting at a painful truth.

"Uhh," Jason pulled a phone out of his pocket, "8:30. Why does it matter?"

Jane groaned, "You're a morning person, aren't you?"

Jason's wicked grin answered her question even before he spoke, "Yes. And you, Doll? Do you rise with the morning fire and share in its rays of life?" Jane was too tired to even comprehend what on earth he was talking about.

"No. I am _not_ a morning person." She replied flatly, "Do you have a toothbrush I can borrow for the foreseeable future?"

Jason replied without missing a beat, "Yes, but don't you want to use yours?"

"Well, yeah, but that's out in the woods still."

"Oh! No it's not! Bats and I brought the ATV and trailer in last night. We had to dig through everything to check for bugs, but everything was clean so you have full access to it as long as either he or I are around to make sure it's not some kind of weapon." Jane knew that he wasn't kidding. She chose to ignore that piece of information though, and focused more on the fact that all of her stuff was within the Batcave.

"So you're telling me that you woke me up way too early, and yet I'm still sitting here, strapped to this stupid bed, when I could be getting dressed and ready for the day?" She was awake enough now to start regaining her ability to tease him. Honestly, Jane hadn't considered herself a sarcastic person before now, but it was just so easy to banter with Jason!

Jason laughed and rapidly typed in a command in the computer at the end of the bed. The instant his fingers stopped moving, the bindings relaxed and Jane pulled her limbs out of them. He then led her back out to the main room where her ATV and trailer rested next to the tank that Batman called the Batmobiel. It was a rather comical sight and Jane couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she walked up to the brightly colored, dirty vehicle (the ATV was patterned with brown, blue, and purple camo, and was absolutely dwarfed by everything else in the room).

Jane dug through the trailer until she was able to locate her suitcase, which she dragged out with only a little bit of difficulty. Jason managed to stand there awkwardly the entire time, stuck somewhere between trying to help and not wanting to hurt her pride as she moved the clunky thing. By the time he had gained the courage to walk up to help, the suitcase was already on the ground, and Jane was pulling it out into the main room.

"The locker room is down there, right?" She asked, pointing to the hallway to the right of the stairs that she wasn't allowed to go up.

"Yep! There's like, enough hot water for a five hour long shower and you have it to yourself right now, but breakfast should be here shortly, so don't take too long." Jason winked at the end of his sentence, before Jane's expression made him realize how inappropriate that statement sounded, and the two teens stood in an awkward silence for several seconds before Jane cleared her throat and headed towards the locker room.

For the first time in a month she had access to a hot shower that didn't cost her money, and it was the best shower she had ever taken. She had brought her own soaps and made sure to use the showerhead that Jason had pointed out earlier, but there weren't any curtains and only a narrow wall kept intruders from immediately seeing her, so Jane was fairly tense the entire time. Even so, it was a solid forty minutes before she turned the water off and got dressed. Finally, feeling fresh, clean, and partially prepared for the surprises that this day would bring, she left the locker room with a bag of dirty laundry and her suitcase.

Back in the main room of the Batcave, Jason was sitting on a couch against the wall, messing with his phone. On the coffee table in front of him was a tray of food, and it looked like it was still steaming. His head jerked up as he heard her approach and he put his phone away.

"I'll go ahead and take your stuff to the Med Bay so that you have time to eat, Batman wants to test your abilities sometime today and he's not very patient with personal stuff, so be prepared for him being, well, ticky is a nice word." Jane grimaced before a thought occurred to her.

"Yeah, I'll eat fast. Hey, uh, I couldn't help but notice that you talk a lot differently now than you did when we were out in Gotham, less slang or whatever." Jason looked surprised for a moment before responding.

"Yup. Bruce and Alfred – his butler-slash-grandfather figure – are trying to break that habit, and Batsy agrees so I get in trouble for not 'speaking in grammatically and socially acceptable ways.'" Jason grimaced and rolled his eyes, it was a rather impressive expression, actually. "Eat up, I'll be back in a sec." Without waiting for her to respond, Jason grabbed both the suitcase and the plastic bag before jogging, as fast as he could with the hefty object, towards the Med Bay.

Jane rolled her eyes at his antics before turning her attention to food. It looked, and smelled, like strawberry oatmeal – with fresh strawberries too. There was also apple juice, two sausage links, and a decorative flower. In all, it was as fancy as the breakfasts her papa made her on birthdays. She took one last moment to appreciate the beauty of the meal before digging in with the polished spoon that was off to the side of the tray, and it tasted just as good as it smelled.

She was almost finished by the time Jason returned, which she thought was strange since the Med Bay wasn't that far away. He was carrying something, which he quickly handed her when he got within arm's reach.

"Batgirl doesn't really store any of her stuff here besides weapons or whatever, so these are some workout clothes that I'm guessing will fit you, but I really suck at guessing sizes so they probably won't. It's just a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, but it'll be easier to wear those than jeans when Batman tests you." Jane glanced down at her outfit and silently agreed. She _really_ didn't want to ruin her favorite jeans or her nice blue shirt (which Tasha claimed 'made her eyes POP') and she hadn't packed any real workout clothes when she left her home, but she could already see one other issue.

"Thanks, uh, my bag is next to my bed, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"There are other articles of clothing that girls require in order to participate in athletic activities." Jane pointedly stared at Jason until her meaning finally set in, which she knew by the shade of red his face turned. She then laughed and stood up to go and fetch said articles. "I'm finished eating, and I'd offer to do my own dishes, but I don't know where a good sink is for that, and I doubt that there is some 'Bat-kitchen' down here, so I'll allow you to make it disappear down whatever portal it magically appeared from in the first place."

Ten minutes later Jane was standing back in the main room wearing the white tank and gray sweat pants Jason had provided (along with a purple sports bra showing through the white fabric, which had Jason turning alarming shades red again) waiting for Batman to arrive and begin whatever tests he had planned. She had been chatting casually with Jason when he suggested that they go ahead and move to the gym to warm up before The Bat arrived (what was with him and nicknames?).

They stretched and talked about simple things like school, hobbies, their favorite colors (Jane loved shades of aqua blue and Jason liked greens), and – holy cow! You have to do that warm up too? Those are the worst! – both of them agreed that classic rock was the best and celebrities were overrated; Jane talked about Natasha while Jason avoided talking about his life – current and past – and it ended up being one of the easiest, free flowing conversations that Jane had ever had with anyone other than Natasha.

"You think handstand push-ups are bad?" Jane asked (they were currently comparing warm-up routines to see who had the worst one), "In my jujitsu class, sensei Chitwood would make us hang from these poles in the ceiling by our knees and do sit ups if we don't have our uniforms on right or silly stuff like that. It's not that bad until you've been up there for twenty minutes, then you really want to get down!"

Jason laughed, "I still think that handstand push-ups are harder, but you're a girl, so I'll let you think you won." Jane smacked his arm.

"How long have you taken jujitsu?" Jane jolted when Batman spoke from the doorway, but Jason simple smirked in an infuriating way and looked at her expectantly.

"Umm, since I was six, so that's almost eight years. But it's technically a self-defense/kickboxing class that incorporates jujitsu techniques."

"What belt are you?"

"I just got my black belt, but since I'm in the teens class that translates to an adult blue belt, I think."

Batman didn't reply, instead he walked over to the center of the padded half of the room and turned to face her.

"Don't use your powers, but feel free to fight me in whatever way you find most comfortable. There are no other rules except to follow the usual submission guidelines." Jane blinked for a second before shrugging and walking towards him.

"Okay. So, we're starting now?" Instead of answering her, Batman charged and began his attack with a swift right hook.

Jane barely managed to dodge in time and ended up rolling farther than she had intended. It ended up working to her advantage and gave her the chance to change mindsets (from, 'hey, let's talk about this' to 'I don't want to die!'). Jane balanced on the balls of her feet and crouched low to the ground, bringing her hands in front of her but keeping them loose. Instead of approaching her, Batman remained standing in the center of the room, seemingly waiting for her to make the next move. She didn't though, instead Jane stayed where she was, trying to calculate her chances of success with the different moves that she knew well. It was obvious that she wouldn't win the match, she wasn't supposed to, but that didn't mean she wouldn't try her hardest to last as long as she could.

Making up her mind, Jane faked moving to the left and ran up to the balance beam, which was the closet piece of equipment on her right. Without pausing in her run, she jumped up onto the beam and came to a stop in the middle of the beam. Batman was already racing towards her at lightning speed, so she used the distance she had to get a small running start before she jumped into the air, landing knee first on her opponents' chest. He had obviously seen her plan coming and was braced for her impact, but using her knees instead of her feet had thrown him just enough off balance for Jane to force him to the ground. Faster than she had ever done before, Jane had her left knee on his throat, her right was occupied by trying to keep his arm on the floor. What she hadn't expected though, was Batman using his left hand to grab her by the hair and literally throw her off of him.

Jane landed several feet away, despite the hero holding back his full strength. Dazed, she wasn't able to block the fist that descended towards her face, so Jane rolled to the right. A quick pressure on her lower back proved that being face down on the mat would be a fatal mistake as Batman's arm snaked around her throat. It took less than two seconds for Jane to tap the mat twice, that man was strong!

Batman instantly released her and gave Jane enough time to catch her breath, which she was thankful for. Once her adrenaline rush tempered down a little, she turned over and stood up. Batman was already across the room at the control booth for the Sim Station, typing something into the computer there. Jason was heading her way with a bottle of water, though, so Jane figured that she could ask him what the Bat had planned for her next.

"You know you actually did pretty good?" He commented as he handed her the bottle. "You lasted a total of forty-five seconds, which is actually longer than most. Superman holds the record for longest duel with Batsy; it took Supes twelve minutes to lose."

"Geeze! I'm sitting here thinking I failed miserably, but now I don't feel as bad. What's he doing over there? I feel like he's plotting the best way to kill me or something, and that wasn't even a half bad match just now, at least, as far as physical exertion is concerned. I didn't get to work very hard."

"Eh, you'll get to do plenty later. I think he wants to see you think on your feet where you actually have a chance, which is why he is setting up the Sim Station. Then he will eventually do something to test your meta abilities – how you control rock and if you are able to fight with your power. Other than that, I don't really know. I'm just the designated towel boy and water-toter or whatever." Jane hummed to acknowledge that she had heard him, but focused on taking another gulp of water before walking over to Batman as he gestured for her to come.

"Your goal is to last as long as you can. If you feel confident enough to try and go after the yellow flag, capturing it will result in the end of the session and I'll bump you up a level and you can try again. How extensive are your powers?"

"I'm not sure yet. I've never really had a chance to really practice, keeping everything a secret was a pain. I can just barely control metal, not well at all. I can control rock and dirt pretty well, same with minerals and gems, which includes simply moving it around and causing it to shift shapes and textures. It takes a lot of concentration though, but I'm working on controlling more than one rock at a time and everything." Jane trailed off lamely, not sure where to go from there. Batman only grunted, which didn't help her any. A few – long – seconds later, Batman finally finished typing.

"Go stand in the middle of the room, there will be a green square. When you stand on it, the session will begin. If you can use your powers without destroying the entire room, use them. If not, don't. I'm going to trust that Robin informed you how this section of the training room works." That last part was directed more towards the boy in question than Jane, but Jason just smiled and shrugged.

"Mmmkay." Was all that Jane mumbled, focusing instead on taking off her sneakers and socks. If either of the men thought that it was strange for her to do so, they made no comment.

Jane spent the entire walk to the green square trying to 'tune in' to the ground and get a sense of what lay beneath it. It was much easier to do outdoors, but not impossible inside either. The difficult part was that the tiles weren't made out of rock. If Jane was to describe what she sensed, it would sound something like 'pixilated metal-and-crystalline columns that had lots of gaps.' It was unlike anything she had ever sensed before. The actual material that the tiles were made of was not metal, but it felt similar, and each tile went far into the ground and was made up of thousands of tiny cubes, which were all interconnected.

The green tile was looming ever closer, and while Jane was more in touch with the ground around her, she still had no idea what to expect, so she did her best to expect nothing. Taking a deep breath, she stepped onto the glowing tile.

Instantly, the entire floor… well… lifted. The connected pixels separated and colored and created an almost holographic world. This wasn't some 'obstacle course,' it was like being inside of a video game. When everything stopped shifting, Jane was standing in the middle of what appeared to be a forest clearing. Trees surrounded her, and the grass seemed to be moving from a non-existent wind. Above her, the long lights on the training room ceiling glowed brighter than ever.

"Remember; find the yellow flag to end the session. Use your powers if you are confident about it, but don't obliterate the Simulator, it's expensive." Batman's voice seemed to come from the trees, but Jane knew that he was a few hundred feet behind her. She took a step forward.

And promptly stumbled and fell down. She hadn't moved, but everything else had, and the only way that she knew was because she was still tapped into her surroundings. Jane could feel everything, the wires between each pixel, the microscopic machines inside, giving them their colors and textures, and the whole room had just _moved_ like a _treadmill_. This was just asking to give her a headache.

Jane decided to move even slower than she had originally planned and crawled to the tree line instead of attempting to walk again. Once there, when she felt confident that she wouldn't fall again, she used the closest tree to pull herself to her feet. It felt like a tree to the touch, and it looked a lot like a real tree too – you could tell that it wasn't real, but it was close enough – however, Jane could still sense the pixels in the interior of the tree, which she would not have been able to do with a real tree.

Deciding to experiment for a little bit, she focused on a particular section of the tree, and _pulled._ Using her hands to mimic the action of her mind and will, Jane was pleasantly surprised to see a group of pixels pull out of the 'tree.' The wires quickly disconnected on their own – which was good, Jane didn't want to break the little things – and the gap was filled in by other pixels. The ones that floated in the air lost all color, but held their shape, which she discovered she could change at will.

' _At least I know I'll have_ some _advantage for what's ahead._ ' Jane thought to herself as she let the pixels drop to the ground. They vanished into the grass with little to no fanfare, and Jane continued moving throughout the forest.

She was just beginning to feel a little bit confident when the first trap went off. One moment, everything was peaceful; the next, chaos. Jane sensed the shift a second before it happened. A tree, up and to the left, suddenly became hollow, then the whole thing burst open and about fifteen baseball-sized spheres poured out. Jane dodged out of the way just before the first shot was released. The tiny red laser hit where she had just been standing, then five more spheres joined the first and took aim. After a few seconds of dodging and rolling, Jane grabbed the closest sphere with her mind and made it explode, sending all of the fragments into the surrounding machines. She continued with this line of attack until the rest of the spheres decided to join the fight, breaking the previously unspoken rule of 'only six firing at a time.'

There was an instantaneous difference in Jane's method of attack now. The machines were too small to easily focus on when so many were attacking her at the same moment, so she stretched her mind downward instead. Pulling her hands through the air, she brought a wave of pixels up to swallow the spheres. As soon as the machines were touched by the pixels, they stopped firing and the 'woods' were peaceful once more. It was by far the weirdest thing that Jane had ever experienced.

The same attack happened three more times, with the only difference being that Jane was shot by one of the bots the final time, before she finally got fed up with the situation. Collecting a bunch of pixels beneath her feet, Jane lifted herself up above the 'tree' line. Oops. There was a large, glowing, orange-yellow flag about a hundred yards to her left, and nearly fifty drones that had been floating around in the 'sky' were now headed straight for her. Joy. Dropping to the ground, Jane started sprinting in the direction of the flag.

It was in sight when the spheres finally caught up with her, and the only reason she knew that they had was because lasers started pouring from the sky. By this point there was no such thing as an attack or defense strategy, it took every ounce of Jane's willpower and skill to not get zapped by the little buggers. Running out of energy and growing desperate, she allowed the ground to swallow her – literally.

It was being surrounded by a heavy blanket. There was a physical substance pressing in on all angles, closing around her, testing out her claustrophobia, but she was still able to breathe. Keeping her eyes firmly shut (Jane fought the slight panic of the fully enclosed space well enough, but she didn't dare open her eyes and confirm it), she started moving through the pixels. She couldn't actually walk, but Jane could bend the crystals around her and propel herself forward with her will instead. It was hard to tell where exactly she was in the ground, she couldn't sense very far in any direction, but she had a general direction to follow and gut instinct kept her from trying to claw her way out of the crystal pixels as soon as possible.

After what felt like an eternity, Jane decided that she had had enough and pushed herself out of the ground, opening her eyes to find herself once more surrounded by fake trees and light. Taking a deep shaky breath, she quickly tried to orient herself, finding that she had overshot the yellow flag by a dozen or so yards.

Without waiting to see if the spheres were still around, she sprinted for the flag and just barely managed to snag the corner of it in a running jump. With the flag in hand, her feet hit the ground and the elaborate forest melted back into white tile, leaving her standing exactly where she had started standing in the middle of the white side of the room empty handed.

Slow applause and an appreciative whistle made her glance up at Jason, who was smiling from off to the side of the control booth – which Batman was still in. Making her way over to the pair, Jane tried to quell the shaking of her hands by clenching them into fists at her sides.

"Nice going! You didn't beat any time records, but that disappearing act was pretty cool. How'd ya do it?" Jason handed her a bottle of water and led her to a bench.

"I separated the pixels and let myself fall a little bit, then rearranged everything so that I could move. Probably won't ever do it again." She let out a shaky laugh that sounded fake even to her, "I didn't break anything did I?" Jane shifted the conversation to Batman before Jason could voice the concern written across his face.

"No. Nothing that wasn't designed to be destroyed anyways. I thought you said you couldn't control metal well?" Batman shifted his head to the side, narrowing his eyes but not directly looking at Jane.

"I can't. Most of the Sim-thingy is made out of some kind of crystal I think, I don't know, but I am pretty good at manipulating minerals and stuff like crystals, so it wasn't too bad." Batman nodded slightly.

"And the reason for your hands shaking?" He actually did turn to face her this time and Jane gulped in hesitation.

"I'm a little bit claustrophobic and didn't anticipate how tightly the pixels would stick to me." She shrugged off Jason's questioning look, not sure if it was about her phrasing for 'pixels' or the reasons behind her claustrophobia. "It's hard to think straight when your body is telling you that you shouldn't be able to breathe." She forced a laugh and shifted, slightly uncomfortable.

"How bad is your claustrophobia?" Batman refused to let the issue drop.

"Not usually too noticeable. I don't normally have any problems in elevators or narrow corridors as long as I can see, which is funny because if I am in a really tight space I have to close my eyes in order to function. Can't let myself see that there's nothing _to_ see." Jane trailed off, crossing her arms and staring past the duo.

Turning away from her, Batman typed something into the command station and the lights on that half of the room dimmed. "I won't have you go through the Sim Station again, but you will spar with Robin next. No powers at first, though I may ask you to include them later."

The next three hours consisted of Jason kicking Jane's butt time and time again until Batman finally allowed her to include her powers, at which point she started losing fewer matches and even won twice. Jason's fighting style was unlike anything she had ever encountered before, he had form and technique, but when they started getting more evenly matched once her powers were added to the mix, he relied more heavily on power shots and cheap tricks. It was rather obvious that Jane was better at groundwork and wrestling, but she quickly realized that close quarters contact was a terrible idea when it came to the boy wonder and that she was much less likely to get punched when she was able to control the distance between them.

When Batman finally called a halt to their last sparring match (half of a bench press was wrapped around his left foot, but he had managed to get a fist tangled in her hair and _would NOT let go_ ), Jane practically collapsed in exhaustion. This was almost worse than her green belt test, and she had thrown up at the end of that! (Never again would she eat a granola bar before any kind of sparring match).

With a laugh, Jason let go of her hair and flopped down next to her, careful not to twist up his ankle.

"I'll uh – _pant_ – fix that – _pant_ – in a sec." She gestured upwards, though Jason figured she meant his foot.

He laughed, "Your call Barbie Doll." He leaned back on his hands and raised an eyebrow at her, "You know, you should work out more, might help your stamina."

Growling, she smacked at his thigh and hit a little higher than she intended. Jason flew upwards, pulling his knees to his chest and glared at her after his knee-jerk reaction. "Watch it." He hissed, not in any actual pain, but more suspicious of her than before.

This time, Jane laughed at him. Slowly she sat up, then started softening the metal encasing his foot. It had been practically an accident, Jason had gotten her in a headlock and she had reached out to the nearest thing she could manipulate – which happened to be the bench press. The shock of it hitting him had allowed her to escape, and she had quickly bent one of the legs around his ankle, not allowing his to move but leaving her vulnerable while still within range of his arms.

After Jane had finished fixing the leg of the bench press and Batman had checked them both for injuries, the two teens headed back to the central room in the Batcave. Jane excused herself for a shower, and agreed to meet Jason by the couch and coffee table that awkwardly sat against the wall in the main room (she hadn't thought too much about it when she had eaten breakfast there that morning, but it really seemed out of place now).

Forty minutes later, Jane left the locker room feeling one-hundred-percent less sweaty and gross, wearing the blue shirt and jeans that she had changed out of that morning. There was a silver tray on the coffee table with still-hot soup, a cold turkey sandwich, and a glass of water with a full water pitcher all carefully placed on it. Jason was nowhere to be seen, and Batman was working by one of the small computer screens in his command hub, so she sat down and dug into the food.

Three bites into the soup and Jane had to pause and close her eyes to savor the flavor of the chicken soup in her mouth.

"Best in the world ain't it?" Her eyes opened slowly, and Jane carefully swallowed before smiling at Jason.

"It's amazing! I don't know who made it, but I think it might be better than Papa Niero's white chili, which I _never_ thought I'd say!" She beamed at Jason, but her smile slowly faded as her heart panged with longing. Jane doubted that she would ever taste Raniero Esposito's secret recipe white chili again. She knew it by heart, it was the first thing that Niero had taught her to cook, but without even trying she knew that it would never be the same again. Jason, assuming she was thinking about her late guardian, didn't comment on her change of mood. Instead, he went off on a tangent about how he never realized that normal people actually took the time to savor food, and that now that he wasn't digging through the trash for scraps he had a new appreciation for decent culinary skills.

The rest of the day was spent making small talk, and a demonstration when Jason found out that Jane liked drawing (her simple sketch of him had him practically glowing, and she had grudgingly allowed him to keep it despite it not being finished). She wound up laying down for bed before Jason had even changed into his costume, and was looking forward to the decent sleep that absolute exhaustion usually brought to her. Jane allowed Batman to wrap the restraints around her limbs, then bid the two men good luck as they headed out for the night and darkness called to her mind.

 _"_ _Papa?" The world was gray. "Papa, is that you?"_

 _"_ _Jane? Oh. My little Rose!" The tall Italian engulfed her in a hug. "What have you done?"_

 _"_ _What?" He pulled away._

 _"_ _You killed me, Jane. You killed us all." Blood, there was blood everywhere, flowing over her ankles, her mother lay a few feet away. The world was red. BANG!_

 _"_ _Papa!" She was screaming. "I didn't do it! I swear Papa! I love you!"_

 _"_ _But Jane," Blood blossomed across his chest. "You did." There was a gun in her hands. Bodies were appearing in the blood, floating, it was getting deeper, up to her knees. Niero fell to the ground._

 _"_ _Papa!" She couldn't move, her feet were held still by the blood. "Papa, no!"_

 _"_ _Why, Jane?" He looked up at her, the blood was rising up past his shoulders. "He wants you, why did he kill me? You're the reason I'm dead, you're the reason we're all dead." The blood flowed over his shoulders, over his head. Niero was gone. Jane tried to swim, but it wasn't the blood holding her in place. It was the hands,_ their _hands. Mom, Dad, Papa, her potential foster family, Tasha, Jason, everyone. The blood flowed over her head, into her mouth and nose and eyes, but their screams filled her ears._

 _"_ _You killed us, Jane! Murderer! It's all your fault!"_

"Jane!" Her whole body was shaking, but only half from Jason's efforts. The bitter taste was still filling her mouth and throat. She pulled at her restraints. Tears were flowing down her face, harder now.

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'll get you out, just relax." Jason spoke in a reassuring tone, but he still looked pale. He and Batman must have just gotten back from patrol when they heard the noise coming from the MedBay. The restraints relaxed around her wrists and ankles.

Before Jason could move closer and attempt to comfort Jane again, she was out of the bed. A quick jump over the nearest gurney and she shot towards the doorway, even though it was blocked by a dark shadow.

Batman stared at the girl racing towards him and braced himself for impact, but at the last second Jane dropped to her knees and skidded into his shins at an angle, which allowed her head to be level with the only visible trashcan in the room.

The sound of Jane emptying her stomach into the metal bin jolted both men into action. Jason rushed forward and started pulling her hair out of the way and literally tied it in a knot since there was nothing else he could use. Batman, meanwhile, had stepped fully into the room and headed for the nearby counter. A moment later Jane had a cool rag on the back of her neck and a glass of water near her knee.

Jason quietly rubbed her back while she heaved, until it became apparent that she was done throwing up, but still sobbing; sobbing harder than Jason had ever seen anyone cry in his life, which was indeed saying something. Batman handed him a different damp cloth, seemingly from nowhere, and Jason carefully wiped Jane's face and turned her to his shoulder so that he could properly hug her. He noted a slight purse in Batman's lips and, as the older man moved the trashcan away, caught the distinct color of blood that could have caused worry in even the most stubborn emotional wall. Holding Jane a little bit tighter, he started rocking lightly, from side to side. Not saying anything, but at the same time, letting her know that she wasn't alone.

After a moment's hesitation, Batman knelt down as well and rested a hand on her shoulder, the other finding the back of Jason's neck. Needless to say, it was not something that Jason was expecting in the least. It was unclear how long they stayed like that, but eventually Jane started calming down.

"Shhhh, hey, you're alright. You're safe. We're here." Jason muttered continuously, "Listen to me, Doll, it's okay. You're okay."

Batman made a brief motion with the hand against Jason's neck.

"Hey, Jane? Doll? Look at me for a second, okay?" He eased her up off his chest, "There was some blood in the trashcan, do you feel okay? Physically? Or do we need to do a little scanning?" Jane didn't answer, she was staring at his chest.

"Jane?" Then she started shrieking.

She leaped backwards and landed hard against the ground, unable to tear her eyes away from Jason's tunic, or, more accurately, Robin's tunic. He hadn't had time to change, and the dark red of his uniform was an uncanny reminder of what Jane had just witnessed in her dream. Overwhelmed with concern and confusion, Jason gave up on his previously gentle approach and jumped towards her, catching her off guard enough to get control of her arms.

"Jane. Jane!" His voice demanded silence, and Jane immediately went quiet, although she was still practically hyperventilating. "Listen to me. Now. I am fine. You, are fine. But you _won't_ be fine if you don't calm down. And if you aren't fine, then _I'm_ not fine. Do you understand?" She nodded. "Good. Now, I need you to breathe with me, okay? In, out. In, out." After a moment, her hand stretched forward and pressed against his chest. She held it there for a moment before pulling back and staring at her palm.

"Are you okay?" She shook her head 'no,' "There was blood in the trashcan, is it serious?" Jane shook her head again.

"Bit through my tongue." The words were barely audible, but they were there, which Jason took for a good sign.

"It's okay. Do we need to look at it?" Jane shook her head again, she had yet to meet his eyes, still staring at her hand.

"Jane, Doll, look at me. Please? Let me know you'll be okay." For several helpless seconds, he didn't think she would, but finally she raised her eyes to his. Jason had been expecting the tear-stained face, but he wasn't prepared for the flat terror hiding behind the emptiness in her eyes. He had seen it before, in other people, but never had Jason considered Jane to be one capable of that emotion.

"I'll be okay. I'll be _okay_." The terror faded from her eyes and Jane took several deep breaths. "Thank you. Both of you." Her eyes flashed up to Batman's face for a nanosecond before locking onto Jason again.

"Do you have nightmares often?" He probed gently, moving closer, but not wanting to scare her again.

She shrugged, "More or less. This one was new. Kinda. I've had one similar to it before, but never as bad."

He wrapped her in a hug, holding her as tightly as he dared, but still paying attention in case she needed to pull away, "Well you're safe now. I won't let anything hurt you."

Jane melted into his touch. She hadn't been hugged since her Papa's death, and she needed it now more than ever before. The faces in her dream still clung to the back of her eyelids, threatening to replay the nightmare every time she blinked, but for now she pushed it away, focusing on the steady thumping of Jason's heart beneath her ear.

Batman was doing something by the counter a little way off to the left – probably cleaning out the trashcan – giving her time to be vulnerable without his presence, for which she was grateful. A little while later he came over with a small tray of medical supplies.

"Could you open your mouth? I need to make sure that you didn't hurt yourself too badly." Batman spoke more gently than Jane thought possible, but she certainly didn't complain. Without moving from her spot against Jason's chest, she opened her mouth and let him probe around with a small wad of gauze. Satisfied that her tongue was the only source of blood, he made her drink a glass of water before spreading some localized numbing agent on it.

They stayed on the floor for several minutes, until Jane was having trouble keeping her eyes open and her head listed from side to side. Jason looked to Batman in question.

"I put an anesthetic in her water. She should sleep a full eight hours after this with no dreams. Same thing I used to give Dick." Surprised by Batman's use of Nightwing's real name, Jason glanced down and saw that Jane was completely passed out against his shoulder. He nodded slowly.

"I'm gonna sleep down here, 'K Bruce? I don't want to have to strap her down again, and this way we can make sure she'll be okay." Batman hesitated, then nodded at his ward's request.

"I'll lock down the room and make sure Alfred brings breakfast down in time to grab her dirty laundry before she wakes up. I think…" Here Batman hesitated, Bruce was starting to take over from his night-time mindset. He pulled off his cowl and ran a hand through his hair. "I think I know why I recognized her name. I don't know for sure, I haven't had time to really consider it, but Alfred mentioned that her adoptive father worked for the WayneTech branch in Starling as their Advanced Science Research spokesman. I can remember him, and chances are that he mentioned her, but until I can backcheck that thoroughly she'll have to stay here." Bruce had ended the sentence, but Jason sensed that there was more to be said.

"What is it? What are you thinking of that you know I'll approve of, but aren't sure of for yourself?" Jason narrowed his eyes, he had an idea of what it was, but needed to be sure. Bruce sighed and ran a hand over his face.

"I was thinking of letting her join the Team. It would help us keep her under eye, but let her put her powers to good use and give her a purpose besides sitting around doing nothing. You're being tutored by Barbara tomorrow, and I'll be at work, so she won't have many outlets for activity and I'm afraid of allowing her to become too curious." Bruce fixed Jason with a heavy stare.

"I know you like her personality, but you cannot tell her anything. She seems like a decent person, but it will take two weeks for the blood work to process to know if she's a clone or not, and her refusal to allow Manhunter to suppress her memory is … Concerning, to say the least. I am _considering_ her placement on the Team, but until I have more concrete evidence on her history she's going to have to stay in the cave. You need to respect me here Jason, the last thing we need is another New Year's incident, and we're lucky that her mind drew connections _away_ from Bruce Wayne being Batman, otherwise I'd have no choice but to have her memory wiped."

Jason pursed his lips and nodded. "I know Bruce. I don't like it, but I know." He looked down at the girl sleeping in his arms, "She says that she's untrained, but it took me _weeks_ to finish the Sim as fast as she did. Given, she's got powers and martial arts on her side, but I'm pretty sure that you bumped it up a level towards the end there anyways." Bruce smirked slightly, confirming Jason's suspicion.

"Get some sleep kiddo, I'll see you tomorrow. And keep me posted if she says anything strange."

"Will do boss, g'night." Bruce left the cave and Jason carefully transferred Jane to a gurney before pulling several layers off his uniform. Left in his white undershirt and black spandex shorts, he rinsed his mouth out in the sink and settled down in the gurney next to hers, regretting missing his shower for the evening, but planning on taking one tomorrow instead.

With the soft blue light of the heart monitor by Jane's feet lulled Jason to sleep in moments.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 _April 27, 2012, Batcave_

Jane awoke slowly the next morning. Waking up was like trying to wade through mud, and she found herself on the brink of consciousness more than once. When she was finally able to keep her eyes open for more than a second at a time she was surprised to find that she wasn't strapped to the gurney, and that the lights were on, but low. Swinging her feet over the side of the gurney, she slowly stood up, a rush of dizziness washing over her.

When she could finally see straight again, Jane headed out of the Med Bay and into the main room. Batman was there working on something on the computer, but Jason was nowhere to be seen. As if reading her mind, Batman spoke up.

"Robin is dealing with a prescheduled event in his civilian life. He wanted to be here when you woke up, but you slept longer than we anticipated." He remained focused on the computer, and didn't turn to acknowledge her in any other way.

"Mmm." Jane hummed an affirmative sound, but didn't say anything else as she approached him, trusting that he wouldn't be upset. After a few more minutes of quiet typing he exited whatever program he had been working on and turned to her.

"I have to leave for the day. There is breakfast and a sandwich on the coffee table, and if you go into the Med Bay and say your name out loud you can select a movie to watch. The only areas not locked down are the locker room, Med Bay, and a portion of this room so that you can move between them. If you have any books or anything in your trailer tell me now so that we can go get them, otherwise you'll have to wait for Jason to get here." Jane nodded, and Batman waited for a moment, then dismissed her with a sharp turn on his heel towards a hallway that Jane had not been down.

After Jane had brushed her teeth and showered, she moved the food into the Med Bay and announced her name. A holographic screen appeared directly across from her bed and she could vocally direct it through the large queue of movies. Finally selecting the newer version of 'Pride and Prejudice,' she settled down and stared at the wall behind the hologram of the movie. For the past month she had been moving every day, changing locations and avoiding most signs of humanity. And now, well, now she missed her old life. She missed getting home from school and being enveloped in a giant hug from Niero. She missed the lighthearted spars with Natasha, and how they would rant about Dave punching too hard during drills. It was finally setting in that that part of her life was over. She wouldn't be going back home. Not now, not ever. And if she did ever go back to visit, then it still would never be the _home_ that she knew.

Soon enough the credits were rolling up the screen, and shortly after she turned it off, Jane heard the light taps of feet moving quickly towards her. Jason tapped lightly on the doorframe before moving fully into the room.

"You okay?" He asked, sitting on the gurney next to hers.

"No. But I'm getting there." She smiled lightly at him, but it didn't reach her eyes. "How was your day?"

"Eh, I'm being tutored by Dick's friend Babs cuz Bruce doesn't want to put me in school a grade behind. I'm kinda being homeschooled right now, by him, Alfred, and Babs, but he wants me to go to Gotham Academy next year and I am definitely not ready for that." He snorted, grimacing at the floor. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, each taking a moment to just breathe after a long couple of days.

"Hey Jason?"

"Yeah?" He glanced up, meeting her eyes.

"Thanks." He smiled at her and the slight tension in the room broke.

"Ugh." Jason flopped backwards onto the gurney dramatically, "I hate math!"

Jane laughed, "Same! Wanna go spar?" Jason sat up so fast he almost fell off the bed.

"Yes! And none of that crazy crap that B made us do yesterday. I swear I was gonna pass out afterwards." Jason scrunched up his nose, then helped Jane off her bed.

This spar was much more lighthearted. The two flowed with the movements, not putting as much power behind hits, and Jane proved that she was infinitely better than Jason at grappling – if he was pulling his punches at least. He still managed to get around most of her defenses when it came to outright fist fighting.

 _Same Day, Watchtower_

"I don't really know what to do here, and needed advice from someone who wouldn't spread that around during dinner." Bruce – dressed as Batman but with the cowl pulled down – admitted to Wonder Woman, who sat across from him in one of the smaller conference rooms. Diana hummed in thought as she put her elbows on the table between them and rested her chin on her folded hands.

"As much as I dislike child heroes who are brought in so young, I would suggest putting her on the team. Assuming she is not a threat?" The Amazonian princess raised her eyebrows in question.

"I don't think so." Bruce said firmly, pursing his lips, "I definitely know her name from somewhere, and that worries me a lot. I don't know a lot of _good_ names Diana, and this girl seems so familiar, I just can't place her face. Searching her name turns up almost nothing besides the newer events that just reconfirm what she's told us… I know she's not an assassin or deliberate spy, she doesn't fight like one or appear to be purposefully avoiding any natural fighting instincts. I've been monitoring her brain activity at night, and she had a nightmare last night that was most certainly not faked, but with what happened to Red Arrow… I just don't know if I can risk it all over again, but I can't just lock her up, nor can I trust her to keep Jason's secret." He let out a deep sigh and dragged a hand across his face.

"Hey, Bruce? Just breathe. It's only been a few days, and I know you've been stressed about those murder cases too, but just relax about this one, okay?" Diana reached across the table and rested a hand on her friend's arm. "Just think about it, but I suggest letting her join the Team. Keep everyone's identities secret, and always pair her with another person on missions, but she can also live there and you can have the Cave back to full function. I know that Dick was rather upset after finding out he had to work out of Mount Justice."

Bruce slowly sat up and nodded, "Okay. I'll talk to Jason about it after her DNA test gets back next week, but I already know he'll be more than ecstatic about it."

Wonder Woman laughed, "Really? And why's that?"

"He's completely smitten." Bruce cracked a half-smile and pulled his cowl back over his head, instantly transforming into The Batman. "Let's go see how J'onn is doing on the interrogation."

"Another possible Light affiliate, right?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't want to interrogate him yourself?"

"I did yesterday. J'onn is making sure I didn't miss anything, but I think this is another dead end."

"Crap. How's Ollie?"

"Pissed. This was the last lead we had on finding the original Roy…"

 _May 9, 2012 7:30 PM_

Batman sat in front of his computer, finally releasing the tension he had been carrying throughout the day as Bruce Wayne. Around noon he had gotten the notification that Jane's genetic tests had come back, but had been bogged down with meetings and an honorary dinner before he could actually start going through it.

Jane had spent the past two weeks in the Cave; training with Jason, reading, drawing, and working with Jason on the school assignments he was allowed to bring into the Cave. Bruce silently commended her patience, not once did she ask to go outside, and she only made requests about real necessities. Jason had taken to spending almost all of his time with her, and it took Alfred complaining about being lonely for him to start spending time in the manor again (no one could ever say that Alfred didn't play dirty).

In all, Jason had become concerningly close with the girl, and Batman was eager to discover if she actually was a threat or not.

Pulling up her genome on the main screen, he started a program to analyze any differences in her genes as compared to a model human female. A quick check to chromosome 18 revealed that she had a meta gene, and that it appeared to be active.

Twenty minutes later, the program finished, and Batman felt his insides tighten in worry. Ignoring the highly conserved regions of Jane's genome – regions that were similar across species – nearly 60% of Jane's noncoding DNA was highlighted as 'unique.' He quickly began cross referencing those areas. Human DNA was mostly noncoding, and those regions were often used by anthropologists to show a person's heritage and where they came from geologically, but over and over again the computer came up blank. There was no explanation for the silent mutations in Jane's genome. The key factors that would mark her a clone of any kind were missing, and it didn't appear that her DNA was tampered with at conception either, but this did nothing to answer Batman's concern.

He finally set up a program to run a comparison between Jane's unique sequences and all known sequences that the computer had access to. It would take over an hour to finish, even with multiple servers running, but Jason had said something about doing an art project in the training room, so Batman wasn't worried about being interrupted before he was ready.

Sitting back in his chair, he crossed his arms and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. He had been fully prepared to offer her a place on the Team as soon as he confirmed that she wasn't a clone, but now he had even more things to worry about. On top of being unable to find any photographs of her biological parents – he had yet to actually visit her home, but it was his next option – it turns out that she actually had the most unique DNA he had ever seen in a human. All of the important markers were there, she didn't have any obvious signs of tampering and her chromosomal caps were fully intact, which was the usual sign for cloning.

Batman was so absorbed in his brooding that the sharp ding of the computer nearly startled him. After taking an extra breath, he looked up and began examination the partial match. Half of the unknown regions were identical matches, and all but five of the other half were at least similar. The DNA sequence that the computer had found was buried deep within an old League database. The document it was found in was untitled, and besides the sequence itself the only other information offered was a single line near the bottom of the last page. 'See MM for details in emergencies only.'

Batman saved a copy of Jane's genome and the matching sequence to an external hard drive and headed to his car. He had a Martian to talk to.

 _May 9, 2012 9:00 PM, Watchtower_

As soon as Batman felt the ground solidly beneath his feet he was moving. J'onn had taken up the slack on monitor duty recently and was sure to be near the communications center.

Sure enough, the Martian was studying one of the many screens when Batman got to the platform.

"Batman." Martian Manhunter greeted him as normal, not looking away from the screens.

"Are there any current situation that need your attention?" J'onn looked up at him.

"No."

"Then I need to speak with you in a more secure location." Nodding, J'onn saved his research and closed the program, setting the computer to send an alert across the Watchtower if any emergency situations arose.

Batman led him to a small conference room. One which was sound proof and had a computer that was already powered up. Plugging in the hard drive, Batman began explaining the situation.

"I'm not sure how far the news has spread yet, but Robin's secret identity was discovered two weeks ago by a young girl with an unknown history. She agreed to be kept at the Cave until I could verify her trustworthiness instead of having you suppress the memory, and until now I have had no concerns. I've talked with Diana about having her join the Team, but now that is all dependent on what you have to say." Batman pulled up the genetic sequences and gestured to the note at the bottom of the unknown document.

"What can you tell me about this?"

J'onn stared at the line of text for longer than Batman expected, then took a deep breath. "This is troubling. Although not in the way you are anticipating." He gathered his thoughts for a moment longer, "Fourteen years ago, a member of the League alumni had me repress the memories of everyone who knew him. His wife had recently died, and he did not want his work with the Justice League to harm his infant daughter." Batman inhaled sharply.

"Five years prior to his retirement, just after the formation of the Justice League, we handled a first contact mission when a spaceship landed in the Appalachian Mountains an hour away from Starling City. That was the first time we met Tamadon Naberrie." Batman pulled his cowl down and ran a hand over his face. This was not at all what he was expecting, and he wasn't sure if it was better or worse than Jane simply being a clone.

"Tamadon was a human from another galaxy, and three years later he returned with his wife for a short visit, then returned again only months later to stay. I can release the memory block I gave to you if you wish?" Bruce nodded sharply and mentally prepared himself. He really hated any and all kinds of telopathic manipulation, especially when it came to altering memories, but he made exceptions.

There was the barest hint of pressure within his mind, then a tidal wave of memories hit him, and he could only let them wash over him. A grinning man walking down the ramp of a strange ship. That same man sitting in the old headquarters at Mount Justice and talking animatedly with Green Lantern John Stewart. The man leaving, and then returning – twice – with a beautiful woman who looked very similar to the young girl who started all of this. The man helping design the Watchtower, showing how the artificial gravity worked in his ship and was safer than the methods the League had been considering previously. The man on planet Earth, shaking hands with Bruce Wayne at a company dinner. The man holding a bundle of cloth that had tiny arms waving out of it, asking them to all forget about him and erase him from existence on their databases with tears in his eyes.

By the time the memories slowed to the point where Bruce could think, the guilt was eating at him in a violent way.

"J'onn." If his voice sounded gruffer than usual, the Martian didn't acknowledge it, "Why didn't we set up contingency plans for him? In case he ever needed our help?" Bruce ran a hand through his hair, still trying to process the new information, "He went missing five years after he retired, and from the sounds of it he was taken by an unknown party, yet we never even looked into it. We didn't even know he existed."

"I remembered." J'onn grimaced, "I have remembered him for all of this time, and I was aware of the circumstances of his disappearance. I set up programs to look for him and investigated all that I could without alerting the rest of you to the situation."

Bruce felt the edge of his guilt ease up, that the League had at least done _something_ to help their friend.

"The fact of the matter is that there is no evidence to look into. The car that Taylor owned vanished with him, as did his phone, wallet, and everything he had on him. None of it was ever found, and the last person to see him was his five-year-old daughter who had been dropped off at school the morning of his disappearance. Her statement about the strange man who visited the day before is the only lead that we have that Taylor's disappearance is of a nefarious nature."

J'onn shrugged, and Bruce pursed his lips. If there wasn't even a crime scene to investigate, no evidence to look into, then finding the missing man would be nearly impossible – more so now that nearly a decade had passed. Batman pulled the cowl back over his head.

"Send all of the information you have on Tamadon and his case file to my personal server. I want to look over the case myself. In the meantime, we need to organize a League meeting for the members who have proteges on the Team. I feel that it would be beneficial to Jane to train with them, but they need to be aware of the situation since she is still possibly a liability."

J'onn nodded, "Should I contact the League members who knew Tamadon and release their memories as well?" Batman hesitated, then shook his head.

"We need to talk to Jane first. It's her father, and she should know about his involvement with the League before everyone else does. I will find an appropriate time to speak to her on the matter."

 _May 11, 2012 1:58 AM, Gotham Rooftop_

Batman crouched atop the edge of an old apartment building, waiting for Robin and Nightwing to finish their patrol route. Batgirl was leaning against a large vent sticking up from the roof, sharpening one of her knives. At long last, 15 minutes behind schedule, two dark blurs streaked out of the shadows next to the building and skidded to a stop near Batgirl.

Nightwing's face was pinched in a way that suggested he was frustrated, while Robin was openly scowling.

"You're late. It's 2:14 and you didn't send any comm clicks suggesting you dealt with any trouble."

Nightwing winced, "Sorry 'bout that. We ran into a small conflict between rival drug lords, two thugs a piece, and I forgot to radio it in."

"Yeah, because you're an _asshole_." Robin seethed.

"Robin. Language. Now what happened?" Batman looked at Nightwing for answers.

"The fight hadn't quite started yet when we stumbled upon it, but I thought that they had guns so I ordered Robin to stay back and observe."

"Yeah. Just like last time." Robin cut in, voice dripping with sarcasm. "And the time before that, and, wait, how about _every_ _ **single**_ mugging, fight, rape, _ANYTHING_ that we've ever come across when I'm with you! You want to know how many of those 'conflicts' there are? Twenty-nine. Only _three_ of them have actually had guns, and you have only let me help once! And that was to stop some freaking _kids_ who were kicking a dog." Robin was practically yelling at this point, arms flying, face red. "When I'm with Batman or Batgirl I'm allowed to jump into the fight with 'em, and we watch each other's backs. But apparently that's too much responsibility for you!" Robin glared at Nightwing with every ounce of his being.

"Is this true?" Batman turned to his first protégé.

Nightwing hesitated, "Maybe? I don't know, I don't keep track, but he almost got stabbed tonight Bats! He's been training for less than six months, in the field for two, and I just don't think he's ready!" Nightwing threw up his hands in exasperation.

"So you don't think he's ready to face the scum of Gotham even though he's been doing that for his whole life? _Without_ backup, weapons, better training and skills, and a safe place to go home?" Nightwing shut up, looking more frustrated than he was before seeing as there was no good comeback to that. Robin, meanwhile, was looking at Batman in shock and awe, and it occurred to Batman that he had never shared these thoughts with his newest partner.

"With that out of the way, I asked you all to meet me here for a reason." Batman looked over to include Batgirl in this half of the conversation as well, "I have deemed Jane as a low potential-threat. There's still a possibility of mind manipulation, but she is not a clone or direct assassin and mole. If she is, it is unconscious, and she still needs to be monitored for that, but I'm going to have her join the Team."

Robin let out a whoop, doing almost a complete emotional turnaround from thirty seconds previous. Nightwing, however, looked more than a little bit upset. His arms dropped from where they had been folded against his chest and his fists clenched at his sides, his mouth opened, but his teeth were clenched so hard he couldn't speak. Batgirl stepped forward and grabbed his arm in concern, looking to Batman.

"I've already spoken to several members of the League, and they agree with me. She will be constantly monitored when on missions and will most likely move into Mount Justice, but no one will be sharing any identities until future notice. My decision is final, and if you have a problem with it you can talk to me in the morning. Robin and I are heading back to the Cave, we'll see you at the manor soon."

The duo left before the older boy could formulate a real response.

"So what does this mean for me?!" Robin was practically bouncing in the passenger seat of the Boatmobile, twisted awkwardly so that he could fully face his mentor. Batman took a deep breath and smiled softly.

"Well, you get to prepare Jane for the life of a superhero. She'll have to start training with you – assuming that she agrees to joining the Team – and there will still be strict restrictions on what secrets you are allowed to share, but we've all reviewed her background and can't find anything suspicious. There's been a recent… development. Nothing to be concerned about, but it definitely changes the situation."

Jason frowned, "What's a big enough deal that it changes the whole situation?"

"I need to speak with Jane before I can tell you or anyone else. I will say that it's highly unexpected."

"How long have you known about it?"

Batman shot Robin a look, knowing that the boy was just probing for information, "Two days. It's a sensitive topic, and I'm not sure how I'm going to bring it up to her yet."

"You? Being sensitive? Damn, it must be pretty serious then." Surprisingly, Jason wasn't teasing him about it, "Can we tell her about joining the Team before you figure out how to be emotional though? Or do we gotta wait?"

Batman ignored the jibe, "It's best if she begins seriously training sooner than later. I don't think that she would be able to handle the stress of a real fight yet, and she needs to work on her reaction time with her powers. She won't have access to rocks in every scenario, and her metalwork is rather dismal."

Jason nodded, "So we can tell her about the Team tomorrow?"

Batman sighed, "Yes. I'll let you tell her about the Team after I inform her of the opportunity to join them, but don't use anyone's real names or go into detail about past missions."

"Alrighty Bats." Jason leaned back, thinking over the situation, and imagining Jane's face at the new development to her situation.

 _May 12, 2012 9:00 AM_

Jane woke up to an impatient tapping on her arm, which quickly turned into a full out shoulder-shake. Swatting at the offending sleep-violator, Jane tried to roll over, no longer hindered by her nightly bindings.

"Jaaaaaaane!" Jason sang her name softly, but still loud enough to be aggravating, "Wake uuuup you sleepy head!"

"Shut up you freak." Jane mumbled into her pillow, used to their morning routine and still hating it. How could _anyone_ be as peppy as Jason was this early?! Given, she didn't know the time, but it definitely wasn't time to wake up yet. Growling, she tried to smack his hand harder when he came after her shoulder, but only managed to hit herself.

Jason grinned at the glaring girl. "C'mon. Batman wants to talk to you, and your breakfast is getting cold!" With that, the young teen literally skipped out of the room.

Jane sighed, then slowly rolled out of the bed and started brushing her teeth in the Med Bay sink, wanting to at least wash that nasty flavor out of her mouth before confronting Batman over whatever it was he wanted to discuss.

Only slightly dragging her feet, Jane walked out into the main room of the cave and found Batman talking quietly to Jason, but what froze her in her tracks was the huge picture of her face on the main screen of the computer monitor, with screens full of text underneath and easier to view from the fancy desk chair set up there.

The two men looked up and Jason motioned Jane forward, and she found her feet moving closer without actually deciding that that was what she wanted to do.

"Jane." Batman nodded in greeting, but all she could do was swallow dryly.

"This is your file." Batman motioned to all the screens, "As you can see, it is extensive." She found herself cringing at the social security number near the top of the main screen of text. Thorough indeed…

"Find anything… fun?" Jane was almost scared that he had finally decided she needed her brain wiped.

"Yes. But nothing to make me question your loyalty." The tension left her shoulders and Jane could only stare at the dark man in surprise, "I am not ready to let you leave, especially knowing Robin's identity, but after talking with the core of the League we have decided on a third option. If you are willing to, you will be trained by me and in due time introduced to the rest of the Justice League's protégés, who work together on a team that I am sure Jason has told you about." Batman's pointed stare made the boy blush and chuckle nervously as he rubbed the back of his neck. "You are free to refuse."

Jane was still staring at the two in shock. Never had she ever imagined that this would be an offer from Batman, and even though Jason had jokingly asked her about what her superhero name would be, she never actually considered the career.

Swallowing again, she spoke softly, "Uh, can I… Think? About your offer?"

Batman nodded and Jason beamed a smile at her, the barely restrained hope practically shining from his eyes.

Not sure where else to go for the moment, she grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the locker room for a nice, long, hot shower.

With the water pounding down across her shoulders, Jane stared off at the wall as the shower slowly filled with steam, her mind churning. On one hand, this was probably the best option she would ever get at creating a new life. She would have people to train against and help her develop her powers openly and a decent place to live and friends to make, shelter, and food. But at the same time, she would most likely be entering a hostile environment. Chances were high that the Team already had a stable dynamic, and her addition would do a lot to disrupt that, plus her life would constantly be in danger with the missions the group of teens would go on… but honestly those would be small prices to pay for the ability to not worry about food or shelter or hiding her natural abilities.

Mind made up, she set about scrubbing her hair with a hard determination, preparing for what would probably be one of the biggest challenges of her life.

Batman and Jason looked up as she re-entered the main room of the Batcave. Seeing the look on her face, Jason let out a whoop and pumped his fist in the air.

Letting out a laugh, Jane was surprised to note that there was even a small smirk on the Bat's face as well, "Okay, so if I'm gonna do this, what's it going to take? Cuz I know I'm not field ready right now, and I don't even know where to begin."

"I'll teach you." Batman quirked his lips in what might have been a smile, "The main adjustments you will need to make will be in facing a larger group of opponents, which is much different than one-on-one fighting, and incorporating your powers into the battle. If you really want to maximize your effectiveness in the field, then you need to militarize your ability to control earth and metal. You seem to be getting there on your own now anyways, after seeing that first assessment with you last week, but from here on out we will actually be training you. Robin will help you design a suit, and I recommend that you pick a name you like because the media and public don't generally recognize a change in hero name well. That said, you will be avoiding the media spotlight even once you're on the Team, as they deal primarily in covert operations.

"We can start training an hour after lunch, but I'll let you two talk about what to expect until I get back. Jason?" He waited for his protégé's full attention, " _No. Names._ " Jason saluted his mentor, and then Batman walked off to another part of the cave that Jane wasn't allowed in.

"Sooo… Welcome to Hero Camp!" Jason gave Jane a high five. "This is gonna be so much fun! I never really got to design my own hero name and stuff, although I redesigned the suit to better fit me, so I kinda know what I'm doing, but not really."

Jane smiled at him, "You still know more than I do. I don't even know where to start!"

"Well, I say we should start with a color scheme first. The name will probably be the hardest part, but we can spitball ideas together later. You'll also have to decide on a hair style, and make sure it's simple because you'll have to do every time you go out, and it can't be one that you wear on a day-to-day basis because once it's part of your costume, you're not really allowed to wear your hair like that in public, cuz it makes it easier for people to figure out who you really are."

"Gotcha. Okay, so not to be super cliché, but I really like the colors black, blue, and silver. I know that those aren't really original, but, well, I think it's pretty badass." Jane struggled to contain her blush, but felt her face heating up anyways. She would be forever grateful that Jason decided not to laugh in that moment, and instead just smiled at her awkward swearing.

He led her over to the massive computer and pulled an extra office chair out from under one of the tables to the side of the main computer, while he claimed the "boss" chair.

"When I was redesigning my Robin suit, I discovered that one of my greatest resources was… Geeks!" Jason flashed her a smile, "There's all these 'fan art' type websites out there, as well as just random stuff on Google, but the important part is that there's all these people out there sharing what they think their favorite heroes should look like! Which is great for us, since we're kiiiiinda going from scratch here." Jane watched him open a web browser and type in his website of choice, before opening several search windows for the site on different computer screens around them.

"Okay, so all of the screens that are on right now work like touch screens, and the keyboards are directly beneath the screen. Just type in the name of a female hero and start scrolling, if you like a look then save the picture to the desktop, and we'll see what we have in a bit."

Jane smiled as she turned to the nearest screen and typed in Wonder Woman, figuring that she would start at the top with the first female hero. After what felt like hours of scrolling through over-sexualized designs that would never survive a day in the field (though Jane often wondered how the Amazonian managed to get away with her costume as it was naturally), she struck gold. While looking at a slightly more steam-punk version of the female warrior's outfit, Jane spotted a 'related images' window that showed promise. The title of the collection was 'Revamped: Practical Outfits for Superheroes' and boasted seven images of female superheroes with costumes redone in more practical designs.

"Ha ha!" Jane let out a sharp laugh, feeling as though her time and energy finally had a purpose.

"Found something? Or was that a laugh of despair because you've fallen into madness given how awful all of these are?" Jason asked.

"Oh, definitely one of triumph, although I was about to fall into that second category a minute ago."

"Yeah… There's definitely a lot of better designs for guys. I didn't realize how bad most of these were. What did you find?"

"This!" Jane gestured to her screen as Jason stood up and leaned over her to get a better look, "I really like the designs for Wonder Woman and Power Girl, and Ms. Marvel's is pretty neat, though I've never heard of her before. Not in real life at least."

"She's fictional, one of those original comic book heroes from before Batman's time when superheroes were really rare." Jason studied the pictures closely, looking for the ones that could hide armor in real life.

"Ah, gotcha. And we can like, mix and match these, right? I don't have to just pick one picture?"

"If that's what you want! You save the images to the desktop and I'll open the costume program, we can probably get a basic design done while we eat lunch, then you can start training for real."

While the two teens worked on the digital sketch, Batman had de-masked and was sitting upstairs with a cup of coffee and his laptop, catching up on paperwork for Wayne Enterprises.

"Master Bruce, Mr. Fox called earlier to inform you of a board meeting today at four PM, and that it would be beneficial for you to show up to at least one meeting before the negotiations with Luthor Corps start next week."

"Thank you, Alfred. I'll leave no later than three today, although I think we both know how that negotiation will go."

"Very true, sir." Alfred set about preparing lunch for the various people living in (and under) the house. "How is Miss Jane taking the news of her change of living?"

"Well enough, she and Jason are working on suit designs now."

"And Master Richard?"

Bruce paused, his coffee halfway to his mouth, and slowly set his mug down, "Not good. I can understand where he's coming from to a point, but his reactions are beyond extreme in my opinion."

"I expected as much. Keep in mind though, Master Bruce, that your opinions tend to be far different than the opinions of those around you."

Bruce sighed, "Did you know that Dick has stopped Jason from being able to perform in the field?" Alfred looked up from the sandwiches he was preparing in surprise, "He's called back Robin from being able to help safely stop muggings and robberies while on patrol, meaning that every time I send Robin on patrol with Nightwing, Robin's not actually getting the practice and Nightwing isn't getting the backup he needs. I just… I don't know how to fix it. I don't know how to convince Dick that Jason is ready, and I can't figure out how to get Dick to trust my judgement on Jane when I don't even know how to talk to her about her father's history myself."

"That is quite the predicament, Master Bruce. I did not realize that you had discovered something about the girl's father though. Is it anything to be concerned about?"

Bruce shook his head, "Hardly." He debated on telling Alfred about Tamadon for a moment, "Jane's father used to be a member of the League."

Alfred paused for the barest of seconds as he set out bread for sandwiches. "I see."

"He was alumni, technically, but he helped design the Watchtower, the artificial gravity generators, and the planetary communications system that the League uses. He was our primary mission control leader and ran more behind the scenes work than any other Leaguer today." Bruce ran a hand through his hair, "And when his wife died he had Martian Manhunter block our memories of him and wipe him from our databases. I know I deal with a lot of coincidences in my line of work, Alfred, but her showing up and figuring out Jason's identity is beyond anything I've ever seen."

"Well it sounds like you have a good handle on what to do with the girl, though if you have not discussed her father's involvement with the League then it would be wise not to put it off much longer. In the meantime, she seems rather pleasant. I shall see if I can convince Master Richard of this over lunch. When you are finished with yours, please bring the other tray downstairs?" Alfred's raised eyebrows implied the order hidden within the question, and Bruce nodded with a smirk as he reached for his coffee.

 _May 13, 2012 10:20 AM, Wayne Enterprises_

"… resulting in a net 120% profit." The representative stated with a smile, Bruce had long since tuned out of the quarterly report, having read the important details the night before. "Are there any questions?" The conference room was silent for a few moments before Bruce pasted on a realistic smile and stood up.

"Thank you very much Mr. Ziegler. Your department has done very well, and I look forward to your next report." The man beamed up at Bruce and shook his hand enthusiastically.

"Anytime Mr. Wayne, anytime! I'm glad to be of service!" Bruce forced the smile to stay on his face. Matthew Ziegler was the new civilian products representative, and his over-zealousness for his job resulted in adding an extra day to the quarterly reports.

"Your thoroughness is why we hired you, Mr. Ziegler. Ms. Saberton will make sure that we hear of any further important developments." Lucius shook the man's hand as well, and the secretary escorted him out of the room.

"Gentlemen, ladies. Do we have any further thoughts or concerns on this quarter's reports?" Lucius waited for any of the members of the board to speak up, and when no one did he nodded sharply. "Very well. I hereby call a close to this meeting. Any further questions can be sent to my secretary, and Ms. Saberton will schedule a meeting for anyone who needs to speak with me in person. I will see you all next quarter."

The room broke into quiet talking as everyone began gathering up the papers they had brought to the meeting. Bruce walked over to Lucius in the meantime, hoping to corner the man before anyone else could commandeer his attention.

"Bruce."

"Lucius."

"You seemed to be distracted today. More than the sheer boredom the rest of us were enduring, that is."

"Is that so?" Bruce sighed, "I've been dealing with a delicate situation at home. Jason has found himself wrapped up in it, and now I have to break some sensitive information to a young girl and I don't know how she will react or if I should include Jason in the discussion."

"That's a rather vague situation." Lucius shot Bruce a look to say he understood it was Bat related. "Just how sensitive is this information?"

Bruce shrugged, "Her father isn't present in her life, and this could be related to his disappearance. It's not bad news, but she's young and has recently experienced a loss, so she will probably not handle the new information well."

"If it's about her father, she needs to know about it." Lucius shrugged, "If you think that Jason will be more focused on comforting her than reacting to the situation, and that she wouldn't mind him finding out about the information, then I would include him. He's gotten the worst of his temper under control from what I've seen these past months."

Bruce nodded thoughtfully, pausing to shake hands with an exiting board member.

"If there's nothing pressing, I'm going to have my secretary clear my schedule for the rest of the day then. My review of the LexCorp offer from yesterday is already on your desk, so that shouldn't be an issue either." Lucius hummed in agreement.

"I think the rest of the board has already agreed to turn down their offer, too. Wayne Tech has never militarized its products, and our stocks would likely drop if we started to." Lucius watched Bruce from the corner of his eye, a sly smile on his face. Bruce had been subtly planting doubts about LexCorp with the board members for months, and his dislike for the other man was palpable when you knew what to look for.

"Good. I'd better be heading out now though. You'll have to come over for dinner sometime soon, Dick hasn't seen you in a while."

"You mean Dick has started complaining about your lack of social life." Lucius laughed and shook his hand, Bruce just smirked lightly, neither confirming nor denying.

"Have a good day Lucius. I'll contact you about dinner later this week."

It was after lunch by the time Bruce managed to return to the Manor. Jason was busy with Barbara in the library, but Bruce had decided to leave the boy out of this initial conversation.

After greeting Alfred, he quickly descended the stairs to the Batcave and changed into his suit.

Jane was sitting on her bed in the Med Bay, finalizing the suit design that she and Jason had made the day before. She glanced up in greeting when he entered, and surprise flitted across her face when she realized that it wasn't Jason who had come to visit her.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" She swallowed the formal 'sir' that wanted to escape every time she had to address Batman himself.

"No." He moved to the end of her gurney and grasped his hands behind his back, letting the cape fall over his shoulders. "I have news. But first, what can you tell me about your biological parents?"

Jane blinked. He had asked about her parents several times before, but never in such a broad way. "Um, well, Mom didn't have any family. I don't know what happened to them, but she died of internal bleeding when I was born so I don't know much about her at all. All I've ever known is that I look like her. I think I remember my Dad saying I have an aunt somewhere, but I never met her or my grandparents on his side of the family, and there's no legal record of him having any siblings and we all just assumed that his parents passed away or something. Dad was brilliant though, Niero told me all about his inventions and ideas. I know he worked on a lot of stuff that was never actually announced or sold to the public, but I don't think that Dad minded. He was really gentle and loving, and he was really supportive of me practicing with my powers, but only in secret. I… Don't really know what else to say that you don't already know. Is there something specific you wanted to ask me?"

Batman's shoulders sank just slightly. Not enough for Jane to notice, but his long silence told the story of a man gearing up to tell hard news.

"Does the name Tamadon mean anything to you?"

Jane's shoulders tensed. "How do you know that name? The only time I've ever seen that name is when I read it in one of my mother's journals, but that was years ago, and I left that journal at my parents' house on accident, which has been locked up ever since. And I _know_ you haven't been there yet, because Jason would have told me."

Batman took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Your father was a member of the Justice League alumni." He let the news sink in for a moment, "After your mother's death, he had Martian Manhunter repress our memories of him and delete his existence from all web databases, public and private. That's why your name sounded familiar but wasn't one that I could place.

"There's something else that you need to know though." His mind was running at the speed of light to make sure he worded this properly, "The first time I met your father was on a first-contact mission when an unknown spaceship landed in the Appalachian Mountains. Your father was the one who was piloting the ship. He wasn't an alien, he was genetically human and so are you, but your ancestry is different than anyone else's on Earth."

Jane thought he might be joking for a second, then her lungs started to feel tight. "And my mother?"

"Your mother's real name wasn't Irene. Tamadon left Earth the first time and returned three years later with his wife, I'ra En. He wanted to show her Earth, so I helped give them more normal names and identities for their visit. They returned several months after that to stay, and your father made his career by reverse engineering the technology from their galaxy into things that we can use here. He was brilliant, and the League would not be nearly as smoothly run as it is without his inventions."

It took conscious effort for Jane not to start freaking out. Discovering in one conversation that her parents had worked with the Justice League _and_ was from another planet? It was almost too much.

"Did you… Did you even know to look for him?" There were too many emotions running through her for her mind to settle on just one.

"No. I didn't. But Martian Manhunter did, and he investigated to the best of his ability at the time. I will continue looking into it now that I know and can search for the man who came to your house before Tamadon vanished." Jane nodded, trying to process the information and decide how she felt about it. Her emotions were still too jumbled.

"Who else knows?"

"So far, just me, you, and Martian Manhunter. You can tell whoever you trust, but Manhunter is waiting for your permission before releasing the memory block on the League members who knew Tamadon." Jane nodded absently. "I don't trust you. You could have been anywhere during the three weeks you were traveling, and the fact that you figured out Jason's secret identity so easily is too big of a coincidence to ignore. I don't think you're a threat, though, and that is why I offered you a place on the Team."

Jane stared at him for a long moment, her eyes open and unguarded, but only truly showing how lost she was in the situation.

"Who all knew my father when he worked with you? Besides Martian Manhunter."

"One of the Green Lanterns, Green Arrow, the rest of the original seven, and a handful of others who didn't know him personally but saw him on a regular basis."

"And none of them remember him?"

"Not unless you want them to." She swallowed.

"If they were close to him, they deserve to know what happened to their friend. I don't want it advertised though. I'll… I'll tell people as I need to." Batman nodded and shifted his hands.

"When you join the Team, Martian Manhunter would be willing to give you his memories of your parents, should you want them. If you have any questions for me, I will be at the computer." And with that, he swept out of the room. Leaving Jane to sort through the mess within her head.

 _May 19, 2012 1:38 PM, Batcave_

Jane sat cross-legged on her bed, reading through an old crime report that Batman had given her. She had told Jason about her heritage the day she learned about it, and even though he had been shocked, he had helped her normalize the information so that she could continue as normal.

The training over the past week had been incredibly intense, focusing mainly on defending against group attacks while incorporating her power into long distance offense. As Jason had explained to her that, as a protégé, their goal was to be there as backup yet still be capable of holding their own if necessary. In her free time, Jane read the assigned crime reports to learn about the more legal aspect of being a hero and watched Jason's training sessions with his mentor, which were so much more intense than her own that Jane would often sit there in awe.

Today was different though, Jason had warned her that no one would be in the cave all day and that the motion sensors were up, so she was restricted to the main training room and a direct path to the locker room. Some pre-made food was stored in the newly installed minifridge and Jane had taken full advantage of the microwave to make herself a cup of tea.

Finishing the old report – which was a simple bank robbery from back before Robin existed – she pulled out her sketching supplies and started working on touching up a sketch of Niero. It still hurt to think about him too much, she had been kept busy enough, but knew that she needed to set aside time to grieve despite the rest of the chaos that had become her life. So, she drew. It was something her old therapist had recommended, back from right after her dad had vanished (and was probably why she had gotten so good at drawing in the first place). She had drawn her father's face over and over, at first with sloppy circles and crayons, but as the years had passed they had gotten more realistic. Drawing his face repeatedly committed the image to memory in ways that simply studying a picture failed at, and now, instead of drawing her dad, she drew Niero.

This was the third portrait, and just like the others she ended the sketching session in tears, reliving his last few days and their camping plans, the look on his face when she completed her black belt test… She clung to the memories, curling up and eventually dreaming of happier times.

 _May 19, 2012 2:00 PM, Wayne Manor_

Barbara looked over the worksheet that Jason had just finished, checking his work and answers for any errors.

"Well pip-squeak, it looks like you are officially ready for your pre-algebra final exam." She smiled over at the younger boy, let out a long breath and slid down his chair.

" _Fuck yes_. I thought I'd never finish with this damn module." He scrubbed his hands over his face.

"I'm duty-bound to Alfred to make sure you put $1.25 in the swear jar now, just so you know." Jason waved a hand at her in dismissal.

"Yeah yeah, I've been budgeting it out the past week and left the quarters on my dresser this morning." Babs stared at him incredulously for long enough that he opened his eyes to see why she was so quiet. "What?"

"You seriously budget out how often you can cuss?"

"Well _yeah_. Ever since Alfie made the words worth more I have to pick and choose when I want to use them. I'd be using that dollar-twenty-five whether or not I passed the module." She stared at him for a moment longer before shaking her head and chuckling, opting not to follow that line of conversation.

"So, I guess this means I'll be seeing a lot less of you. We'll still have to meet up for the next two weeks to study for the exam, but you should pass it with flying colors!"

"Whoo! Then I'll be free from math for the summer." Jason beamed at her, "Thanks for helping me out Babs, you're a much better teacher than Dickhead."

"Hey, he's not that bad. His brain just works too fast when it comes to math."

"Yeah, you keep sayin' that, but you weren't the one who had to put up with him _fidgeting_ every time I started to do the wrong thing and then insist he's fine until I'm done so that he can start lecturing. He's a freaking awful teacher, and an even worse training partner."

Barbara shifted in his seat, "You know he's sorry about that. He didn't mean to be holding you back so much, but he has a lot of insecurities when it comes to being a leader. Plus, with all the stress of the last few months, he's been stuck in his head a lot and doesn't realize it." Jason shot her a flat look.

"Barbara, I like you, but you're his best friend so you're biased. I see you three times a week and we don't talk about anything other than algebra, but I'm better friends with you than I am with him, and it's his own fault. You all expect me and him to be buddy-buddy since he offered Robin to me, but the dude doesn't even talk to me! I see him at dinner sometimes, but he's always on his phone, and the only time we've ever hung out is when we played Super Smash Bros over Christmas break. If he wanted to get to know me, he'd make an effort. Nowadays I only ever see him at Mount Justice and when we train all he ever does is point out the little stupid shit that I'm doing wrong.

"So yeah, he's stuck in his head. But he's been a _dick_ since November and that has nothing to do with Jane sitting in the basement." Barbara visibly flinched at the other girl's name. Jason wasn't there for the blowup between Bruce and Dick after the announcement that Jane would be joining the Team, but he knew that it was bad. The two were still just barely speaking to each other.

"Well… I think he's just jealous that you trusted her so fast. It took you weeks to trust Bruce, and you still don't really trust Dick…" The excuse was weak, and Barbara obviously knew it, but Jason was tired of arguing.

"What would you have me do Barbie? She figured it out, whoop-de-doo. I didn't trust her with the secret, but she knew it, so I could either be suspicious and paranoid like everyone else, or I could try to be friendly and get to know her since it was pretty much guaranteed that she'd be involved in the super-community if she wasn't a liability.

"I didn't trust her, not at first. I joked with her and shared stupid nicknames, but I didn't and don't talk about my life, not from before and not of the now. The most I've shared with her is that the Team exists and Nightwing can be a jerk." Jason gave her a long look, "Is it so wrong of me to want to be friends with the only person who doesn't expect anything from me? Who doesn't have a preconceived notion about who I should be or what I should do? Because right now, she's it. And you can argue with me all day Babs, but the truth of the matter is that all of you want me to be someone else, and Jane just wants the company."

Barbara didn't know what to say in response, but Jason got up and left the room before she could even try to say anything. It was a long time before she managed to gather up her calculator and pens, and she was unusually quiet when her dad got to the Manor to pick her up.

 _May 26, 2012 4:09 PM, Batcave_

"There's not a 'Superhero Costume Shop for Actual Heroes' out there, so even though we designed your suit two weeks ago it still has to be made." Jason pulled out some kind of weird knife to open the box he had dropped in the middle of the main room of the cave. He had called Jane out of the Med Bay, excitedly telling her about how he just finished his big math test and had said that the box was a surprise for her.

"This is the cloth I was telling you about that Batman found. It's supposed to be this state-of-the-art mineral textile thing, kinda like how they're starting to make paper out of stone as an alternative to trees. It's tear proof, water resistant, and is supposed to be machine washable, but since we've never handled this material before it might be a bit of trial and error."

He pulled a bolt of matte black fabric out and handed it to her.

"Woah!" Jane felt the material with both her hands and her senses. It was lightweight and flexible but was definitely made of something she had control over. "This is so weird, because it doesn't feel like it should be a cloth, but it is." Jason raised an eyebrow in question.

"Like… Imagine if someone gave you a chunk of rock and told you it was a blanket, except this actually _is_ a blanket."

"Oh, well… Cool!" Jason reached out and grabbed a corner of the roll to feel it better, "We'll have to see how easy it is to work with, but either way it's going to be covering some Kevlar and other armor. Since true Kevlar isn't the most flexible material, that will only cover the really important areas like your ribcage and back, and you'll have Kevlar plating on your arms and legs. That will all be held together with lighter pieces of armor that aren't bulletproof, but are knife-resistant, which is equally important. _This_ cloth will cover all of that and will give your suit the actual design and colors you want. We have black, grey, and that blue you like here, so after we get you measured and fitted we'll send everything to Agent A to put together, and you should have your suit by the end of the week!"

"Agent A?"

"Oh, he's one of the behind-the-scenes guys who works with Batman. He's the one we have actually put the suits together and everything, and if something happens to it, he can fix just about any kind of rip or tear. Plus, he helps coordinate things if we have a bigger operation going on, but he never does field work, so no one outside of the hero community knows he exists, and even then, only a handful of heroes know about him."

"I gotcha." Jane smiled at him, glad that she was being trusted with that kind of information, and dug through the box a little bit more, eyeing the bright aqua blue that would be used for the smaller details in the suit as well as – hopefully – the inside of her cloak.

Jason was very professional as he took Jane's measurements, although he still chatted away like normal, and let her hold the end of the measuring tape for the more intimate areas like the inside of her thigh and her bust. After carefully writing down all of her measurements, he packed up the fabric and the sheet with her measurements, as well as a USB with their digital design of her suit.

"It won't come out exactly like we designed, but A is usually really good about giving you something that suits your taste, so he'll see what we made and he might embellish things a little bit, but I know you'll love the result." Jane smiled.

"Sounds good to me! I'm just surprised that it's all happening so fast. Does Batman have a day picked out for introductions yet?" Jason hesitated.

"Not yet, he's actually leaving that up to you, cuz you're pretty much ready now, you just need the suit and a name, but the other day he did tell the Team that you would be joining soon."

"Yeah? How did that go? I have a feeling that it wasn't a shining report." Jane pursed her lips and looked down.

"Pretty much. He didn't reveal your identity or anything, but he made it very clear that no one should share their identities with you because he wasn't sure you could be fully trusted yet. Nightwing is less than fond of you for reasons I can't begin to understand, and most of the original Team backs him up without question, so I wouldn't really count on them being close friends. You and Artemis will probably get along though, and Troia trusts my judgment so she'll be okay. Everyone else is up in the air though…" Jason trailed off.

"It's gonna be okay, ya know?" He gave Jane a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, "Besides, you've got me! And I'm the most important of all of 'em!" Jane snorted and pushed his face away.

"I just don't know what else Batman wants me to do to prove I'm not some crazy spy. I mean, it's normal to not want some stranger digging through all your memories, but he's _Batman_! He already figured out why I'm familiar, what more do I need to do?"

Jason shrugged, "Time. He knows you're not a clone, so it's more of a matter of proving that you don't have any mental programming or whatever. It doesn't help that he's basically suspicious of everyone, and it's freaking him out that you figured out my identity so easily."

"Well, I can't really be mad at him for that I guess. So where do we have to take the box of stuff?"

Jason laughed and picked it up, " _I'm_ taking it to Agent A, you get to chill here and work on your punches. When I get back though, I'm gonna teach you how to _fly_." And with that cryptic statement he picked up the cardboard box and practically skipped up the stairs, leaving Jane to fend for herself until his return.

Jane dodged the punch aimed at her face, but was forced to roll to the left and absorb the impact of the kick that hit her shoulder. Batman and Robin were tag-teaming and forcing her to fight two opponents at once (although Batman was holding back to an incredible level). Sensing that she had a second, she pulled from the wall to her left and let the softened metal encase her arms, the excess material hanging from her fists as she turned to face her opponents again.

Robin lashed out first, with a leap forward and a low sweep to knock her off balance. Jane gave a short hop over his outstretched foot and had to pivot inward the second her feet touched the mat again, twisting to the inside of Batman's punch and elbowing him in the sternum as hard as she could. It still wasn't hard enough and he managed to get her into a bear hug, trapping her arms at her sides as Robin regrouped. She used the metal on her arms then, breaking the Bat's hold on her and pushing forward with a spin to add some extra weight behind the hit as her fist connected with the side of Robin's head. He was down for the count, but Batman was coming back strong and she didn't have a chance to dodge the kick aimed at the back of her left knee.

Rolling with the hit, Jane looked up just in time for Batman's forearm to crash into her collarbone, his weight following her down and cutting off her air supply. The suddenness of the attack broke the concentration she had over the metal on her arms, leaving her with no way to get the bigger man off her. Seeing that the match was over, Batman pushed himself up and walked over to Robin.

"A-okay boss, just gotta sit a minute." Waving off Batman's unspoken question, Jason waited until Batman had left the training area before flopping back onto the mat and laughing. "That's one hell of a right hook you got there, doll. If you hadn't softened that metal stuff, I'd definitely have a second concussion to add to my medical records."

"You sure it's not?" Jane got up and moved to sit next to him.

"Yep! My head doesn't feel fuzzy, and even if it is I'll be fine. This doesn't feel anything like the last one, this just feels like I got hit really hard in the head." Jason gave her a wink before pushing himself to his feet with a grunt and walking over to one of the equipment lockers against the wall. Jane was content to just sit and watch him until she needed to get up. When Jason had gotten back from delivering the design and fabric to 'Agent A,' Batman had been with him and had insisted on doing several group fighting scenarios with Jane, continuing to drill into her that she could _not_ focus on just one opponent at a time, especially when those opponents were used to working together and could coordinate their efforts. It was exhausting to say the least.

Jason walked over to the Sim Station and set up a few two and three-story buildings, then walked back over to her with a few strange gun-looking devices and some other random gadgets, dropping them all next to her before sitting down as well.

"So. These are some of the practice models for our grappling guns. It's one of the ways that us Bats get around the city so quickly and helps you save a ton of energy, but learning how to use them can be a pain in the auuhh—butt." Jason stumbled a bit but corrected the curse before it was fully realized.

"Basically, in the head of each gun is a three-pronged hook that is designed to hook onto the edge of buildings. Not _into_ them, mind you. I made that mistake at first, and aiming this thing at a brick wall does nothing but damage the wall and the hook and leaves you falling three stories to the ground. When we're traveling on patrol, we run and jump across the roofs of shorter buildings. This puts us closer to the streets and the night-life that we are looking out for to bring in to the GCPD, but is safer than just walking the streets. There's almost always a taller building nearby that we can use, but there's ways to work around that even if you're on the tallest building. You aim this thing so that all the dots line up," he showed her the sights, "just above the edge of the building. You fire it, wait for it to latch, give it a tug, and _then_ jump. To this day I don't know how Batsy and Nightwing can just _tell_ when the thing has latched properly, cuz every now and then it doesn't and you have to shoot again and if you don't test it then you fall and honestly that's like, the scariest thing ever."

Jane pressed her lips together and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, "And what do you do if there's not a taller building?"

"Well," Jason paused, "you either jump, which is what usually happens, or aim so that it hooks to the corner of the roof of the building you want to get onto, then you jump and swing around the corner and up and over the edge. That's also scary as hell, but I've done it right a couple of times and Batsy says that it gets easier with practice, so yeah…

"These things are nice cuz you don't have to reload them every time you shoot, which is what Batman started with. You just hit this little button on the back and the hook inverts itself and the line gets sucked back into the gun and it's ready for round two!" Jason handed her one of the grappling guns and showed her which buttons _not_ to press yet.

"I'll teach you how to fly with these, but honestly I don't think you'll need them. If you have the concept and mechanics down, it'll probably be easier for you to use some kind of metal or mineral line that you have control of with your powers, that way you can adjust everything as needed." Jane nodded and got up, the two of them walking onto the white floor nearer the fake buildings. Jason adjusted her aim and then let her line up the sights just above the edge of the building.

Breathing out, she slowly pulled the trigger, making sure to keep her hands steady. The grappling hook launched and the kickback surprised her more than a little, but she let out a triumphant "Ha!" when she saw that the hook had successfully latched onto the edge of the building.

"Nice shot!" Jason cheered her on, "Okay, don't do anything yet, I'm gonna help you the first time we go up, cuz it's actually pretty hard to do when you're starting from ground level."

Jason wrapped his arms around her in a makeshift bearhug, holding onto the grappling gun with her while being careful not to hit any of the buttons. He slipped the toes of his boots under her heels, toggled a dial on the side of the gun so that it would pull them up faster than normal, then hit the retract button.

With a jolt, they were flying. Jane had never been so terrified in her life, but in mere seconds it was over, and they were standing on the roof of the makeshift building. Her knees felt shaky and for a second she was worried she'd have to sit down or fall off, but the adrenalin passed quickly enough.

"You good?" Jason was smiling and looked like he was holding back a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, it was just faster than I expected." Jane waved him off and straightened from where she had stumbled after they landed, taking in the height.

"Wanna give it a try?" Jason asked, moving to stand next to her. "I'll guide you, so you don't fall, but even if we do fall or hit the building or anything, this specific training Sim acts like a trampoline if you're moving too fast when you hit anything. It's how Batsy kept me alive during the first few weeks of training, cuz I was god-awful at this when I started out." Jane was still breathless at the idea of swinging between buildings like an actual vigilante, but nodded quickly.

Jason showed her how to change her grip on the grappling gun for when she was firing versus when it was pulling her up, and coached her through the body movements she would need at each step of the swing.

Resuming the position that they had held previously, Jane perched on Jason's toes with her arms resting on top of his. Jane carefully aimed and fired the grapple, which didn't latch on properly to the next building and forced her to reshoot. The second time resulted in success, and she focused on her goal to swing to the building across from the pair like a pendulum, with the focal point being the taller building in the middle (which the grapple was attached to).

All it took was a small hop, and the two were soaring through the air. Jason directed her body, showing her how to throw her weight using her core. When they reached the peak of the swing, directly over the other building, Jason hit the 'detach' button and they both fell the short distance to the roof.

After the small tumble to release some of their momentum, Jane laid on the roof, laughing; the adrenaline and endorphins still rushing through her system. Jason soon joined in, and anyone watching would have thought them insane: two young teens laying on the roof of a fake building in hysterics.

 _June 1, 2012, The Batcave_

When Jason dragged Jane out of bed that morning, he was literally bouncing with excitement. He refused to explain why, simply latching onto her wrist and pulling her towards the stairwell that she had been warned against entering from the very beginning of her stay. He had to lead her halfway up the 'forbidden staircase,' to the first landing where the stairway made a sharp turn. There, he punched a keycode into a small panel next to a large metal door which was swiftly jerked into the ceiling revealing a short corridor with six metal doors in it, three on each side.

"So, welcome to the changing rooms!" Jason beamed and practically skipped into the entryway, gesturing to the door on Jane's left "That's where Batsy keeps all his suits," to the door directly across from it "and that one is Wing-nut's. Batgirl's is next to his, but she usually keeps her suit at her house, so there's only spare utility belts and stuff in there. This one is mine," he palmed the pad next to the door beside Batman's, revealing a small room containing a glass pod with his suit on display and multiple cabinets lining the walls – no doubt holding various weapons. Closing the door, he walked over to the one beside his room, the last door on the left. "And this," he punched the pad next to the door, "is _yours_."

Jane walked into the room in awe. It was clear that it had never been used before, but every surface was clean and not a speck of dust could be seen. What held her attention though, was the cylindrical glass case dominating the left half of the room. The blue fluorescent lights on the inside highlighted every detail, and it was truly a work of art. Inside the case, on a glass mannequin, was displayed what she assumed to be her suit. It was almost entirely black, with gray panels around the knees, at the top of the chest along the collarbone, and on the upper arms. Thin strips of bright blue added detail in different geometric designs, two jagged lines stood out on the chest piece and flowed down from under the armpits of the suit to the outside of the thighs where it cut a large oval in the black fabric, stretching from hip to knee, sectioning off the different pieces of armor that were underneath the fabric. The blue was also present along the wrists and forearms of the suit, as well as lining the details of the boots. The boots had heavily armored shins in a soft gray, while the actual lining and buckles were black with blue accents. Behind the displayed suit hung a heavy black cloak, though she could see a hint of blue peaking out from the inside lining.

Overall, Jane was breathless. She had been training with Batman for weeks, but this was the first moment that it hit her that she was actually going to be a superhero. It wasn't some distant idea, or a placating promise to keep her mind off her current situation, Batman was going to make her into a true crime-fighter.

The whole time, Jason had been standing quietly in the background watching her reaction. After a few minutes, he spoke softly. "So, you like it?"

"Yes." She breathed. "I didn't think… It looks so much more _real_ than I expected…"

Jason smirked, "I know what you mean, when mine was finally finished – oomph!"

Jane's sudden hug caught him off guard, but it only took a second for him to soften and return the hug.

"Thank you so much. I never would have thought that my life could turn out like this, and you have gone above and beyond what I could ever expect of a friend, and I honestly don't know where I'd be right now otherwise."

Jason didn't say anything for a long moment, just hugged her tighter before whispering "Same here, doll. Same here." The two embraced for a moment longer before he patted her back and released his hold.

"I have to ask though. Why is it here? I thought that Batman was trying to get me out of the Cave as fast as possible. This seems kinda… Permanent." Jane shifted slightly, trying to curb her excitement enough to still think logically.

"Well, it's technically temporary. I think once you join the Team Batman is gonna have you move into the Mountain, but I talked him into letting this be your changing room since you're probably going to be an honorary Bat on the Team, given that he's the one training you. This room ain't used for anything anyways. All the changing rooms used to be part of the armory, then Robin came along and Batman's weapons got more sophisticated, so he built a bigger one."

Jane nodded, fingering the fabric of one of the sleeves.

"You should try it on now." Jason smiled, he turned to the cabinet across from the display case and opened the top drawer. Inside was an array of white clothing; a long-sleeved white shirt, thin gloves, leggings, and socks. "The only bad part about the material of your suit is that is isn't very breathable, and since it's water resistant it won't absorb any sweat, so you'll have to wear all of this under it in order to avoid feeling really sticky throughout the night or getting a friction burn. And before you ask, Bats insists on white because it makes it easier to see if anyone is hurt once we get back." At her questioning glance, he looked a bit sheepish, "Apparently we all have a reputation of hiding injuries from him, so he finds sneaky ways around it."

Jane chuckled and shooed him out of the room before stripping down and pulling on the white athletic clothes. A small button on the side of the display case let her open the cylinder, but she got stuck when it came to figuring out how to put it on. Finally, she found the hidden zipper on the back of the suit, which unzipped past the tailbone. The boots were separate from the rest of the suit, so she set those aside and wiggled into the legs of the uniform, before realizing that she could just cause the fabric to loosen enough to pull on, then return to its original size. It was surprisingly heavy, she could feel the various kinds of Kevlar and armor built into the suit, and while the suit itself was indeed very thick it didn't look as strong as it felt. There was very little resistance to her movements though, for which she was glad as she bent over to unbuckle and pull on the boots. For the finishing touch, she pulled down the cloak and carefully fastened it in front of her collarbone.

Giving it an experimental tug, she felt the catch and smiled, knowing that if anything pulled on it hard enough it would simply release, versus giving the enemy an extra handhold to pull her off balance with (that was the stipulation Batman made when she requested a cloak as part of her suit, saying that it would help disguise her hair).

Jane spent a total of four minutes staring at herself in the mirror next to the display case, hardly believing that it was her looking back, before she opened the door to show Jason. He gave a low whistle and clapped her on the back.

"You look like a real hero now, doll! We'll have to get you a mask next, but we have time. You'll need to have a mold of your face done, because we specifically design each mask to fit your face perfectly. Although with your powers you could honestly just alter one of the ones we have, because they're a mixture of cloth and plaster, which is technically under the list of stuff you can control, but it's up to you."

Jane laughed, "Honestly I'm too excited about this suit to even think about a mask right now!"

Chuckling, Jason pulled her out of the corridor and back down the stairs, "C'mon, we've got to show Bats! He's been waiting downstairs, and even though he's a stoic pain in the butt, I know he's eager to see how it turned out." Jane laughed and let herself be pulled along, feeling exhilarated with her cloak billowing out behind her.

Entering the main chamber of the cave, the two ran up to the edge of the computer platform where Batman finished typing whatever he was working on before turning around. He studied Jane for a long moment before quirking his lips in a not-smile-but-almost-could-be-if-you-squint.

"It suits you well. Have you given any thought to a name or when you want to meet the Team?"

Jane smiled a bit, having slowly gotten used to the very direct way that Batman talked to those around him, "I've been throwing around a few names in my head, but I want it to be a surprise if that's okay?" Batman nodded just slightly, "And I think a good time to meet the Team would be June 15th. That would give me time to train while wearing my suit and get used to the differences in it as compared to what I normally wear, as well as design a mask."

"June 15 it is then. I shall inform the League that that will be your debut. One final thing before you leave." He closed the document he was working one and approached the two, staying far enough away that Jane didn't feel like he was purposefully trying to intimidate her.

"The Team and the majority of the League have so far heard nothing to prove your loyalties, and I haven't said anything about your father's work with the League to anyone who didn't need to know, but they have agreed to silence on the matter. It might ease your introduction to the Team if I inform them of Tamadon's involvement first. Is that something you would want me to do?"

Jane shifted, struggling with the idea of strangers finding out about her father's secret so soon after she did. But the flipside was that she would be joining the Team under hostile conditions, and it was an old secret anyways.

She nodded, "Yeah. If you could let Robin do it though? I don't want them to know his name or anything, and I'm not really comfortable with them knowing more than they need to. He can probably summarize it well enough, and you can be there to back him up on the matter, so they'll believe it."

Batman nodded once, "That should be adequate. Do you have any questions about your suit?"

"Not really… Is there anything I should know about it?"

"The only truly bulletproof areas are your chest, knees, shins, thighs, and back. However, there are a lot of joints in the Kevlar on your back for flexibility, and those are weak points in the armor. Everything else has a base layer that makes it knife resistant, with a thicker layer in high risk areas like your abdomen. This does not make you immune to knives." He leveled her with a hard stare, "Any knife can cut through that layer of armor with enough force, it just helps to have that extra layer. Robin will show you how to set up the suit's defense system, I'm sure you've noticed all the wires in the suit. If anyone tries to take it off without you deactivating those sensors, it will electrocute them with the voltage of the average taser. This is not something you have to worry about, unless your suit is completely compromised and you're in water, but you should be able to turn off the defense system with your powers easily.

"You'll have to give Robin the access points to the defense triggers, but anyone beyond that is up to you. He can go ahead and set that up for you now, and get a face casting, assuming you don't have any other questions." After waiting for a beat, he turned back to the computers, silently dismissing the two.

Back in the changing room, Jason puttered around, pulling out different tools and a small black pad, before gesturing to her to take off the suit. With the two of them sitting on the floor, he started explaining how the whole thing worked.

"It's one of the ways we protect our identities. If we get captured and knocked out, no one can get the suits off us. They could still get DNA samples from our heads, but it's a lot harder to get blood samples and inject toxins into us when all you have access to is the neck. Most of our masks are rigged too, with a separate system and a different trigger from the suit, but they're really only held on by some super powerful spirit gum, and it hurts like hell if someone just rips it off without at least loosening it with rubbing alcohol or something. The shock that the masks give off is way worse than the suit though, so that hasn't actually happened yet."

While Jason was talking, he had been tampering with the suit, prying up a panel just underneath where her right shoulder blade would be. Pulling out a few loose wires, he quickly and efficiently hooked them into the small device he had grabbed earlier, pausing for a moment to let the system power up.

"Okay, so Batman and I thought that a pressure password would work best for you, because your suit design doesn't let us put the lock screen on your wrists or somewhere where you can easily type a password. What you'll do is think of a pattern you can tap to deactivate the security system, the you and whoever you teach it to can safely take your suit off. Batman usually insists on at least two people knowing, but he says it's fine as long as I know it."

"Why is it important for so many people to know?" Jane furrowed her brow, not against the idea, but curious.

Jason fidgeted for a moment, "Well… So, like… Okay. Our line of work, soon to be yours as well, is really dangerous. There aren't many times when one of us gets seriously injured, I haven't been around for one at least, but Agent A has told me some stories of when they've been shot or tortured and broken limbs and ribs. So if you get hurt, _bad_ hurt, and can't take your suit off yourself, there has to be at least one other person who knows how to, so that you can receive medical attention."

"Ah. I mean, I kinda figured that stuff like that happened. You don't hear about it in the news, but cops get hurt and die, and that's basically the same field of work that you are in." She smiled at him, "I know that I can, and probably will, be hurt at any point after I put on a mask, but I've just been sitting around doing nothing with my powers for my whole life. And if there were more heroes in the world, then my papa might still be alive. I have to do what I can to make sure no one else loses their loved ones." The word had barely left her mouth before Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulders. For a moment, she was confused, then she noticed the tears silently streaming down her face. The ache of loss had hit her full force without her even realizing it, but somehow it hurt less this time, so after a few moments of accepting Jason's comfort, she gently pushed him away and wiped her face.

"Thanks Jay." She smiled, "It's nice to have a friend right now."

"Anytime doll." He beamed at her, "You're all I've got too, ya know?"

"Then I'm glad we have each other."

 _ **AN: So, fun fact from your resident science nerd. ;) The DNA stuff I mentioned in the first part of the chapter? About noncoding DNA making up most of the genome and being used by anthropologists? That's all real. All those ancestry organizations (23 and me, , etc) that use your DNA to figure out your heritage and where you're from use that technology! Anywho, nerd rant over. Hope you enjoyed this monster of a chapter!**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 _June 15, 2012, The Batcave_

Today's the day.

Jane carefully pulled her hair into a high ponytail, locking it in place with a thick band of black stone. A few short wisps still framed her face, but she wasn't willing to gel them back when they didn't get in the way.

Her cloak went on next, clasping in front of her collarbone but with holds also along her shoulders, keeping the weight evenly distributed so it wouldn't slide off. The entire suit fit her perfectly, which was good, because today's the day.

Her hair hung between the tops of her shoulders, and the hood of the cloak could easily be pulled over it. She fingered her mask, eyeing the spirit gum she would spend an hour scrubbing off later, after the day was over.

The mask she had designed with Jason was a basic domino design, but the diamond pieces of the mask stretched all the way up to her hairline and down under her chin – with the extensions made of the same material as her suit.

And today was the day.

Today was the day that she donned her mask.

"Okay, is your mask on good?" Robin finished fastening his cape and glanced over at her.

"Yes, I think so." She tugged at the side, but it was firmly adhered to her skin. It covered almost her entire face and Jason said it looked cool at the same time, so it was a win-win situation.

Robin glanced over at her and smiled, "Do you mind me driving?"

"Oh, I don't know, I think I'd like to, except, you know, I don't have a vehicle or license or know where we're going." Her sarcasm was evident and Robin couldn't help but laugh as he walked towards the 'garage' section of the cave. It was directly below the main room in the cave, which Jane was very familiar with by this point, and a large platform housed the Batmobiel, which could raise up to the main room. A set of stairs leading to the left of said platform housed the rest of the Bat's transportation. Jane had never been in the garage before, and the curiosity had been eating her all week. She wouldn't be disappointed.

"If you want to know what any of these are called, basically just put 'Bat' in front of whatever it looks like. The only weird one is the Batwing. It's basically a jet, but 'Batwing' sounded better than 'Batjet' apparently." Robin needed to work on his descriptions. This wasn't a garage, it was a freaking hanger. With everything from a helicopter to a _tank,_ and all the little things in between. "This one's mine." Jane could hear the pride in his voice as she walked towards him – she had stopped walking at the entrance.

He was standing in front of a red, black, and yellow motorcycle.

"Holy crap. That thing is _sweet_!" Jane didn't know much about cars or motorcycles, but this one looked like it had more gadgets than Batman's utility belt.

"Look, it even has a computer built into it with a voice activated security system." Jason was truly beaming, "She can reach sixty miles per hour in less than fifty feet, and I haven't even figured out everything she can do yet. Batman designed her for me and it was my reward for taking down the Riddler. Best. Present. Ever." He sounded so proud, and Jane was all the happier for him.

"This is amazing! I can't even begin to describe how awesome this is."

"Well, Nightwing would say you're feeling pretty whelmed then." His exaggerated wink was visible from behind his mask, "Now c'mon! Do you wanna meet the team or not!?" Robin jumped over the bike pulled two things off of the wall, throwing one of them back at Jane. "That's Wing-nut's old Robin helmet, I painted it black for you, but it should fit. It's got some pretty cool stuff in it that I'll show you later, but to use the comm just tap and hold the little circle over your left ear."

The two teens quickly pulled on the helmets and Robin showed Jane how to fasten it correctly – it was different than the ones she was used to – before hopping onto his bike. A quick motion from him and Jane climbed on behind him. He touched the side of his helmet.

"Comms working? We always check before we head out." His voice was crystal clear and practically inside of her head.

"Yeah, I hear you loud and clear Robin. Now are we going or no? Get a move on Bird-brain!" His laugh was audible for only a second before his hand left his helmet and the engine roared to life.

They moved at a rather slow pace to get around another, bigger, black motorcycle and the tank, and then they shot off into a dark tunnel. Jane kept a firm grip around Robin's middle and looked around in awe. The tunnel was completely black, she couldn't even see where the garage was anymore, but pale blue lights lit up every hundred feet on both sides of the walls, showing where the turns were. They passed through at least three huge metal doors that lifted up into the ceiling, and then suddenly the blue lights stopped. Jane realized with a start that they weren't in the tunnel anymore and were now in the open heading down the road towards Gotham.

Robin used his left hand to activate the computer in front of him and tapped a little symbol in the upper left corner of the screen. The roaring engine suddenly got much quieter and the bike shuddered for a second, then turned solid black. The headlights still illuminated the road before them, but became dimmer.

"This is what we call stealth mode. All of the vehicles have it and it basically allows us to get a whole heck of a lot closer to our target without alerting anyone to our presence. I'm using it right now because you and I are just passing through, not patrolling or anything, and I don't want to attract any attention. You aren't really ready for an actual Gotham gunfight." Jane nodded against his back to let him know she heard him, but didn't otherwise verbally respond. It was an accurate statement, and she didn't really want to have to deal with the underbelly of Gotham on her first day out of the cave in nearly a month.

Robin weaved through the streets, unseen, with no fanfare, and fifteen minutes after they had left the Batcave he pulled into a deserted alleyway.

Trash littered the ground and piled up next to the walls, some unknown liquid pooled in a large puddle off to the side, and the old, probably broken, telephone booth completed the general 'abandoned' look of the alley perfectly.

After the slight pause, Robin pulled the bike to a stop directly in the middle of the puddle before cutting the engine. He gestured for her to jump off and typed a command into the computer screen, hopping off soon after.

"The puddle is just water, don't worry about it. Don't move though, give me a sec …" He activated his holocomputer and started typing. Several panels slid down across his motorcycle's computer screen and more locked down the previously open sides, "Sorry, but it'd be bad if someone stumbled on it and tried to steal some part of her. If you ever see any of the cars or whatever looking like this, don't touch them. It's set to stun, but the shock they give really freaking hurts."

Jane laughed quietly, not wanting to alert others to their presence, "I'm guessing you're speaking from experience?"

Robin grimaced, "It's part of initiation. If you want a bike or car or something, you have to know how painful it is for whatever poor soul decides to touch it. Batsy thinks that it helps Wing and I not park in obvious places, where people would be more likely to mess with our stuff. I'll tell you a funny story about his parking jobs sometime though, it's pretty great.

"Anyways, we need to chat real fast about serious stuff before you meet The Team." Robin turned to face her fully, and Jane gestured for him to continue. "Do not ever, I repeat, _ever_ , use my real name, or any form of my real name, inside the cave. Superboy has superhearing, and unless you are inside of my or Nightwing's room, he can hear _everything_ you say. Batman has already instructed all of the Team members to keep their identities a secret from you, which isn't too abnormal, but I don't know exactly what he told them, so be aware that they might be uneasy at first.

"Everyone has a room in the Cave, and every room has a lock, so don't go breaking into rooms that you're not supposed to be in, you'll get a tour at some point. You'll also get your own room, like, an actual room, not a Med Bay gurney, so be thinking of what you want your code to be. On the topic of rooms, one of the bigger Bat Rules is that no two people of opposing genders may be inside of a locked bedroom alone. That's about as far as he goes to say 'don't have sex' or whatever, but it's there and you need to know it. If you need to talk to me and we can't get to the Batcave beforehand, we can chat in my room with the door closed and Nightwing aware that no one should enter, but I think we'd all like to avoid that situation." Robin was starting to turn a little bit pink and cleared his throat, "Um, I think that's about it. Don't talk about the Batcave too much, B-man doesn't like it. There are some other, general curtesy rules, but those would be easier to go over once we're actually in the Cave. Do you have any questions?"

"You told them about how my dad worked with the League, right?" Jane asked, trying not to turn too red herself from the previous turn of conversation.

"Yeah. I think most of them believed me, but I'm pretty sure Nightwing thinks it's a lie from Batman to get him to accept you. I really don't know how accepting they'll be at this point, but Nightwing and Batgirl only know your first name, and they've been sworn to secrecy no matter how much they don't like you. You can tell your real name to whoever you want though, it's all up to you. You decided on a super-name though, right?" The look he gave clearly stated that he wished she would tell him, but Jane was more stubborn that that.

She chuckled, "I did."

"Anything else?"

"Um, no? I think that's it." Jane gave a hesitant smile, which Robin returned.

"Alrighty then, this way, milady!" With a flourish, he turned to the old telephone booth and opened the door, "I have to program you in, then we'll be transported to the Cave, one at a time."

"Got it." Jane walked inside of the glass box, and Robin stood half in, half out, tapping a series of numbers into the phone dial pad. She used the time to practice expanding her senses into the metal, and the complete alien feeling surrounding her was rather surprising.

"Robin to Batman, requesting Alpha authorization." Robin's voice startled her, and Jane realized that she was honestly about to meet a bunch of kid superheroes and she should probably be at least a little bit nervous. "Okay, you'll arrive as a designated guest, but I'll help you change your name later. Now, I need you to say B14, okay? On my mark." Robin hit one last button and then gave her a thumbs up.

"B14." The telephone booth door was shut by Robin, and then a bright, gold light nearly blinded her. For three, hour-long seconds, Jane didn't exist. Time and space and matter were simply an idea, gold light was eternity. Then, she was standing again, and she felt like she was going to be sick.

Jane stumbled forward a few steps and bent over, hands on her knees. Distantly, she heard a feminine voice announce "Robin, B13." But that didn't matter, her head was spinning and she was seeing spots. A gentle pressure appeared on her back and rubbed in a slight circle.

"Sorry, the first time is always the worst, it gets better, promise." Robin sure didn't sound sorry, he sounded like he was trying not to laugh. So Jane smacked his leg, then he did laugh. "Oh, knock it off, you're fine. Now stand up, you've got some people to meet."

Jane slowly straightened, and for the first time, noticed where she was. A big, open… cave. What was it with Bats and caves? This room was mostly empty, but there were several hallways leading out in various directions, a strange metal platform about fifty yards into the room with a tube-thing in the ceiling above it, and a bunch of people filing in from a hallway against the right wall. Leading them, as always, was Batman.

She let her hands fall down to her sides and her cloak slid farther down her shoulders. Robin didn't move from his spot by her side, so she edged a little bit closer, but didn't otherwise move. It took less than a minute, but by the time everyone had approached her, there were about twenty people in the room, not including Jane or either of the Bats.

"Team, meet your newest member." Batman, in his magical way, was the first to break the silence, and he did so in the only way that could possibly ensure more silence. Taking a deep breath, Jane took a tiny step forward and gave a small wave.

"Hi. I'm Sapphire." She felt Robin shift next to her, but she could practically feel him smiling at her choice of a name. "So, umm, I don't think I know any of you, but I could probably fail at guessing if Bird-brain over here really doesn't want to introduce you to me." Robin laughed, a little bit louder than normal, and stepped forward.

"Grown-ups, get out. You're not Team members and Sapphie can't remember you all at once. If you want to stick around and meet her, wait till after this little 'team bonding' session." He said it in a slightly humorous tone, but the glare he gave them clearly described his seriousness.

"Whelp. You heard the kid. Move it. Nice to see ya, blondie. Kiddies, be nice!" A man who Sapphire recognized as Green Arrow started ushering the rest of the League members out of the room, back to where they had first come from. Batman followed soon afterwards.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sapphire. I am Aqualad, the leader of the Team." A dark skinned boy stepped forward and held out his hand. The webbing between his fingers and the gills on his neck did nothing to influence the gracious smile on his face, and Jane eagerly shook his hand, glad that the tension was easing.

Aqualad took a step back and gestured to another teen, this one dressed entirely in black with a blue symbol stretching across his chest. He would have been quite handsome, dark hair and all, if it weren't for the scowl across his face.

"This is my second in command, Nightwing. I am sure that Robin has at least mentioned him to you." Aqualad continued.

"Um, yeah. He talks about you all the time. It's an honor to meet you, Nightwing." Sapphire took a step forward and offered her hand.

"Oh? And just what does he tell you? Because I was under the impression that talking to spies was on Batman's 'Do Not Do' list." Nightwing said in a bitter tone and sent a glare to Robin. Jane let her hand fall back to her side and her smile faltered a little.

"Hey, back off. In case you missed the whole 'her dad was in the League' conversation, Batman trusts her enough to put her on the Team, and she has shown _no_ indication of being a spy at all." Robin was quick to jump to her defense, moving so that he was slightly in front of her. A quick scan of the faces around her showed that most of them sided with Nightwing in this matter. Aqualad looked a little bit lost, a blond girl – who Sapphire figured much be Artemis, Green Arrow's protégé – looked sympathetic, and a black haired girl with a lasso on her belt looked rather perplexed. Everyone else maintained either a hostile stare or seemed to not care either way.

"She is a mole, Robin. And you are letting her sink her poisoned knives into you. You're smarter than this, you should know better." Nightwing was practically hissing in Robin's face. Then he turned to her, "And how _dare_ you come in here and try and hurt my little brother, Batman will find your dirt, and believe me when I tell you that I will thoroughly enjoy throwing you in prison, where you can't get any closer to Robin."

"Nightwing …" The blond girl tried to use a warning tone, but only succeeded in sounding hesitant.

"No, Artemis," Ah! That _was_ her name! "The Light has been quiet for more than a year, and we didn't get them all last time. You know they've been planning this whole time, and just because Batman suddenly remembered that she's the daughter of a long-lost League member doesn't mean she isn't actually the daughter of some mercenary." Artemis didn't look satisfied with his logic, but she didn't argue with him any further.

"Gee. I had no idea you knew so much more about my family history than me. Care to fill me in on the rest of the details?" Sapphire crossed her arms and sent him what she hoped was a withering glare.

Nightwing pushed Robin out of the way and stalked up to her, glowering down at her, despite the fact that he wasn't _that_ much taller than her, but Sapphire did not back down, lifting her chin as a challenge instead.

"Listen here brat. You might have Robin convinced, but I know better. I've met moles and spies and been in this life too long to ever be convinced to trust you. It doesn't matter what you say, or what you do, until you let Manhunter prove your mind hasn't been tampered with, I will never trust you. Not with my life, not with my team, and sure as _hell_ not with my little brother."

Sapphire stared at him for a moment, "Well then, I guess you're not too 'whelmed' today. But I am. You know why? Because it's my birthday. And there is _nothing_ that _you_ could ever _possibly do_ to make this day a bad day. Because I. Won't. Let. You." Then she turned on her heal and stalked out of the room, down one of the hallways to the right. No one stopped her, but that was partially because they were all in shock. That is, until Nightwing turned to Robin, who had finally stopped struggling in Kid Flash's grasp and was staring after the girl.

"You… You told her about my words?" Nightwing actually sounded rather hurt by that, but Robin was too angry to try and figure out why. He yanked his arms free from KF and turned to his 'older brother.'

"Yeah. Why not? But you know what I don't get? How you can go weeks without saying more than 'hi' and still claim to be my brother." Robin let out a colorful curse and gave a harsh laugh, "You haven't even met her. I've told you about her a grand total of three times, and you've always changed the subject. Did you ever even consider giving her a chance? Hell, Artemis _is_ the daughter of a mercenary, and you trusted her from the beginning. I don't know where you got that crazy idea that Batman and I are lying to you, but her dad was a member of the Justice League, and you haven't even given her the benefit of a doubt.

"This is the first time she's even spoken to anyone other than me and Bats in a _month_ , but you all are too caught up being self-righteous dirt bags to even say hello. I bring her meals, train with her, and generally hang out. And you know what gets me? She doesn't mind! Not once has she asked to leave the cave. She gets tied up before she can go to bed every night, and _not once_ has she ever complained about it. She has nowhere to go, and no one else cares about her overall wellbeing. This is the first day in six weeks she has been outside of the Batcave, she picked the day, I didn't know it was her birthday, and you guys all act like jerks. Congratulations. Great job showing her the 'real' face of Earth's heroes." Robin was spitting with anger, practically bursting at the seams, so he turned around and headed the direction Sapphire had gone before he did anything he would regret.

"Robin…" Nightwing placed his hand on the younger boy's shoulder to try and stop him, but without warning he spun around and caught Nightwing in the jaw with a harsh punch.

"Fuck off! Don't you _dare_ try and apologize to me right now. I won't accept it. Not until you apologize to Sapphire." This time, no one tried to stop Robin from leaving, they didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of those fists, and Nightwing was already nursing a split lip.

"Sapphie? Sapphire, where are you?" Robin called softly down the hallways, " _Amico_?" He tried using their code word, letting her know that he was alone. The wall up to his left rippled in response. Letting out a sigh, he knelt down next to it and placed a hand against the wall.

"Listen, Sapphie, if I knew he would have reacted that badly to you, I would have given you more of a heads up and made Batman stay to mediate. But Nightwing and I haven't really talked, like, ever, besides when he gave me Robin. Plus, with you in the Batcave, I only see him every now and then, so I had no idea that he would be that upset. Okay? And everyone else is probably just following his lead since he is the most experienced of them all. Now can I see you? Or are you going to make me talk to a wall this entire time?" Robin tried to lighten the situation, but he didn't think it was working very well. A hole appeared in the wall and he quickly crawled inside before she changed her mind.

He didn't know how tall the bubble she had created was, but he could sit up straight and cross his legs comfortably. The only problem was that it was pitch black and he couldn't see his hands, let alone where his friend was; or whether she was crying.

"Hey Sapphie, is it okay if I turn on a light?" He quietly grabbed a glow stick from his utility belt, but a soft green glow started filling the space about three feet away, and Sapphire's mask and the silhouette of her body became visible.

"You okay?" She shrugged and fiddled with the edge of her cloak, watching her hands.

"I'm sorry." It was whispered, but it was also impossible not to hear her.

"What? You have nothing to be sorry for." Robin scooted a bit closer to her.

"I didn't tell you it was my birthday. And I didn't know that Nightwing was your brother, and now I'm hurting both of you." Robin let out a sigh.

"Take off your mask."

"What?"

"Here, this has rubbing alcohol on it." Robin handed her a small cloth dripping in the rubbing alcohol, then applied some to his mask before peeling the fabric off of his face. Sapphire loosened the extra pieces of her own mask and applied the damp cloth to the domino portion that Batman had originally provided. Now, they were no longer Sapphire and Robin, but simply Jane and Jason. Jason pulled a little disk from a compartment in his belt and set it on the ground, where it started glowing green.

"That lets out some kind of buzzing at the only frequency that Kryptonians can hear, so we can openly talk right now.

"Nightwing is not my brother. The only other time he has ever referred to me as 'brother' was when he gave me the title of Robin. Well, he says 'bro' a lot, but it's not just me he uses that with. I guess I can understand why he might think of me that way, what with me being the newest Bat or whatever, but that don't give him the right to explode like he just did. He's got to work harder then that to pretend he and I are all chummy." Jason started to relax as he spoke, trying to show Jane that it was truly him speaking, not just trying to make her feel better. Jane looked up at him.

"That's actually kind of sad. He seems like he'd be a great brother, despite the fact he jumps to conclusions _way_ too fast." Jason chuckled a little bit before looking at her with a thoughtful expression.

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday? I mean, well, I s'ppose I could've looked it up, but I never really thought to do it."

"Well… Um, I don't really know. I guess I was just excited, and sorta wanted to surprise everyone." She let out a dry laugh, "Great surprise, right?"

Instead of laughing, Jason actually looked somewhat excited, "C'mon. I have to show ya something." He handed her a little bottle of spirit gum to reapply her mask and started doing the same with his.

"Hey Jay?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks." He beamed a smile at her and pressed his mask to his face. She did the same and he picked up and deactivated the disk.

"Oh, by the way, what's glowing?" He tucked the little device into his belt and looked at her expectantly.

"It's a rock, actually. My dad gave it to me a really long time ago, said it was some rare mineral. But it was one of the first things I used to practice shaping, it's how I realized I'm able to change the density of rocks, actually. See?" Jane – Sapphire now – collected the mineral into a sphere in her palm, then she made the ball shrink until it was barely bigger than a marble, "It still has the same mass or whatever, so it weighs the same, but everything's much closer together, so it's denser."

"That is wicked cool." Robin took the sphere from her and tested its weight before handing it back to her. She tucked it into a little pouch inside of her cloak and the cavity in the wall was engulfed by darkness. Seconds later, the wall opened up and they crawled back into the hallway.

"Follow me!" Robin didn't wait even a second before he started jogging down the hall, back to the main room that they had arrived in, "I was going to wait, but today's your birthday, so there really isn't a better time." He tossed a smile over his shoulder and kept jogging. They took a new hallway and made more twists and turns than Sapphire could process, so she stopped trying to, and just focused on following him. After a few more turns, he stopped at a nondescript door.

"Okay, this is like, I don't even know what to call this. It's basically where the Team and some of their mentors and whoever else is in the mountain store extra uniforms, weapons, and whatever other crap that they don't use and don't want in their rooms." He was typing a code quickly into a small keypad and gestured for her to enter the room first. It was actually rather spacious and the entire right-hand wall was covered by glass cylinders, most of which contained mannequins wearing costumes of various heroes. A long counter with racks of weapons filled the middle of the room, and boxes were stacked against the left-hand wall. The floor was covered by a black metal grate and blue-ish lights illuminated the room. Sapphire let out a low whistle of appreciation while she took everything in.

"Yeah, pretty cool, huh? Come over here, this is my extra costume station, and if you want, you can use the cylinder next to mine." He grinned at her and tapped a command into a little keypad on the side of the capsule, "The code is just your Zeta designation, B14. That'll get you into most rooms and stuff, I'll show you where to get new codes in a bit." The front glass panel hissed open, splitting in half with each side sliding around the back of the capsule. "Check it out!" Robin gestured for her to explore the inside of the empty cylinder, but his smile suggested that he was hiding something.

"Okay, okay! I am." She leaned into the thing, looking around and behind the 'naked' mannequin before turning back to him, "It's cool, now what are you really trying to show me?" She watched as his smile turned a little bit more secretive.

"There are these little compartments, drawers really, along both sides of the case that can hold specialized weapons and things that you don't want to have just hanging up on the wall. I would highly recommend that you explore those." He was making her work for whatever he had hidden in there, but she turned back to the metal panels with a huff.

Sapphire poked around the inside some more and figured out that if she touched the rectangular outlines on the sides of the pod, they would open into the drawers Robin had described. Halfway down the right side of the case, a drawer opened that wasn't as empty as the others had been. Inside was a brand new, polished, silver belt. Similar to the ones that Robin, Batman, Batgirl, and Nightwing all wore, but this one didn't have a symbol in the front. Simply an empty disk.

"The template is the same for all the belts us Bats wear, but I added a few alterations that I think you'll like. Here." Robin handed her an empty silver disk, "I figured that you could make the symbol yourself, since you can control metal and I didn't know your hero name until, like, fifteen minutes ago." Sapphire looked at the disk for a moment before shaping the letter onto the face. It was simple, yet pretty, in an almost aggressive way, that is, if a letter could look aggressive. The face of the disk looked like it had been shattered, but the only whole part was a stylized, ridged 'S,' which was perfectly centered, "Okay, that's pretty epic." Robin smiled at her and fastened the disk into the empty space on the belt, "It should fit you perfectly. I borrowed the measurements from your suit, so it shouldn't slide anywhere. All of the compartments are magnetized so they stay shut, and Batman already installed special sensors into your gloves that'll let you open them without being electrocuted, which is part of the defense system. Press on the top of your symbol and you'll activate a panic homing button, in case you ever need help." He handed the belt to her. "Happy birthday, doll."

Sapphire held it with a reverence and carefully turned it over in her hands, examining it.

"Robin, this is perfect. It's beautiful and…" Sapphire couldn't finish her sentence, more than a little overwhelmed and reeling from the emotional whiplash of the day. Instead of trying to think of what to say, she wrapped her arms around his torso. "Thank you." She whispered.

He held her a little bit tighter in response. "I'm sorry I didn't get you an actual birthday present. But this one _is_ pretty epic, isn't it?" The previous tension dissipated as Sapphire burst into laughter.

"Why don't we go ahead and face the blundering fools now? I think that this has been sufficient time for them to wallow in their guilt." She raised an eyebrow and smiled conspiringly at him. "Besides, I have a feeling that Nightwing won't approve of my new fashion statement, and I'd love to see the look on his face." Robin chuckled and threw his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm beginning to wonder if you actually _do_ have an evil streak in your personality."

"Oh, there's never been any question about it. You should see me on April Fool's Day, it's fantastic!"

"Best holiday invented!" Robin agreed.

The heroes in the common room milled around the couches, kitchen, and table, unsure what to do since the reason for their presence had run off nearly an hour earlier. Their attention was instantly grabbed however, when Robin walked into the room with Sapphire by his side, both of them laughing at something no one but Superboy had heard. Sapphire pretended not to notice anyone else and continued to listen to whatever Robin was saying, successfully ignoring the rest of the teens.

"Um, Sapphire?" Robin stopped talking and they both turned around. "Hi. So, uh, none of the rest of us really got to introduce ourselves, but I'm Troia. The media has dubbed me Wonder Girl though, so I go by that too." She laughed and offered her hand. "It's good to have another girl on the Team, I was worried that the boys would outnumber us for a little while, but I guess we're ahead now!"

Sapphire accepted the handshake and laughed, "So you guys were even before?"

"Yep! But now we have the advantage whenever we do gender battles during training. Whatever your power is will probably be super helpful during real missions too!"

"Oh? And why do you think I have a power?" She made her teasing tone more obvious than she normally would have, still in a good mood after receiving her belt.

"Because," Troia stated, "you don't walk like a ninja and were the definition of awkward when you waved earlier."

"So you automatically have to be graceful and confident to be a normal human hero?" Robin cut in, enjoying the banter and the fact that at least one other team member seemed to accept Sapphire.

"No. You make Kid Klutz look like a ballerina, I'm just saying that she certainly doesn't carry herself like one of you _ab_ -normal human heroes." Troia gestured to him and all three laughed. "So what is your power? Or do you seriously not have one?" She smiled and kept the question light, even though her honest curiosity was shared by everyone else in the room.

"Well, I'd actually like to keep that a secret for the time being, so that I at least have the advantage of surprise when you all get around to training with me."

"Hey! Blondie! You came back!" Green Arrow wrapped his arm around her shoulders in a sideways hug and turned to face her. "Name's Green Arrow, I'm the hero of Starling. These lovely ladies here are Artemis and Black Canary, my partners in crime!" Artemis rolled her eyes at her mentor's exuberance while Black Canary wrapped an arm around his waist.

"Ignore him. He's socially inept. I'm Artemis, welcome to the Team." Sapphire could instantly tell that she had just made two new allies, and potential friends. Troia seemed to have a very kind attitude, and Artemis was one of those sarcastic people that made the world a better place. They both also seemed to not be siding with Nightwing on the topic of moles, which was an instant bonus.

"Nice to meet you all, but honestly, you're probably the only heroes here that I actually recognized other than Robin and Batman."

"Oh? And how's that?" Arrow seemed rather confused, but he also tended to be overlooked at Justice League functions, so it wasn't out of place.

"I'm from Star; born and raised in Arthur Heights."

"Wait, seriously?! You're from Star?"

"Yup. Can't miss ya'lls' faces in the news, what with all the crime lords you stopped, though Papa usually tried to avoid that kind of stuff …"

"Then how did you end up with The Bat?"

"Um, long story. I left Star this past spring, and found Robin."

"So, who's a better hero? Me or Batman?" Green Arrow seemed more excited now than he had earlier.

"Brutal honesty, or not-so-brutal honesty?" She raised an eyebrow, already having thought of that question.

"I like it as brutal as they come. That's how I ended up with this pretty lady." He pulled Black Canary closer. "She gave me a concussion."

"Batman's better. He has fewer unsolved cases." The silence that followed was practically deafening, all of the teasing completely gone and the other heroes in the room silently listening.

"Now why do you say that?" This was someone new speaking, red shirt, black pants, arrow quiver strapped to his back. It had to be Red Arrow, the original Speedy.

She shrugged, "I know of one unsolved case, and the local news will cover missing persons cases that don't get follow-ups because the people are never found. I don't know if or how many unsolved cases Batman has, but I haven't heard of any and that's fewer than Green Arrow." She winced when she realized how awful that sounded, "Sorry."

The man in question shifted his feet.

"Yeah, I'm not the best detective. Batman has me beat there. What's the case that you know of?"

"Those are closely linked to my secret identity, so I'd rather not say."

"Oh, so you're not going to tell us who you are?" Nightwing spoke for the first time from his place in the kitchen, holding an ice pack to his left jaw.

"Sapphire is under no obligation to tell anyone about her secret identity. And I strictly forbid any of you from attempting to pressure her into sharing. She is to be given the same amount of respect in all regards as any other hero." Batman stood in the shadows of the room by the door, but everyone heard him, and no one dared to argue.

"Secret identities are necessary, as is the general need for privacy. Welcome. I am Martian Manhunter." The intimidating alien nodded his head in her direction, and Sapphire instantly felt goosebumps raise on her arms and up to her neck. "Do not worry. I will not enter your mind without your permission or Batman's order. Though I find it quite interesting that you are maintaining mental walls at the moment. Where did you learn to do that?"

"I'm maintaining _what_? And how do I know you're not inside my head right now?" She was starting to become defensive, but the telepath was making her nervous. Robin silently touched her arm, just to remind her that he was there.

"Mental walls. They are not very strong, but they are there. It is one technique used to block the abilities of telepaths, though not very common because they are very difficult for non-telepaths to maintain."

"I didn't know I was doing anything. It's not like my power has anything to do with telepathy. It's more… concentration and telekinesis, kinda." She looked at Robin and shrugged.

"She is telling the truth, Nightwing. She would not be able to lie while I am so in touch with her surrounding mind. And no, Sapphire. I am not reading your thoughts, only sensing your emotions and intent from outside of your mind. It is very similar to seeing a person's facial expressions."

"Oh. So, you're not looking into my mind or anything?"

"I currently cannot without causing you pain, your walls ensure that. It is surprising how similar your mind feels to that of your father's." Sapphire inhaled sharply, reminded of how this hero had been close with her dad and had likely touched his mind in the same way she felt would be violating.

After a moment of silence, Trioa spoke up. "Well, now that everything's super weird, how about Arty and I show Sapphie her new room? Robin, we need girl time to get to know our new friend, so scram. C'mon! I'll show you where we're all at."

After getting an encouraging look from Robin, Sapphire followed the two girls down the hallway, chatting minimally about inconsequential things. A few hundred feet down the hall from the common room, there was a slight right and then the walls were lined with doors.

"Well, this is what we call the dorm hall. Left side has all the guy's rooms, right side is the girls. It's more or less set up based on seniority, with the oldest members closest to this end and the locker rooms. Robin and Nightwing's rooms are at the very end though." Troia gestured down the corridor.

"Why is that? Or is that some weird, unspoken thing?" Sapphire glanced towards the dark haired girl.

Troia and Artemis shared a look before Artemis shrugged, "The Bats are all very secretive, so they just like sleeping a little bit more separate. We have this theory that they have bathrooms in their rooms too, so they don't have to worry about being near the locker rooms."

"C'mon, you have to see your room now." Troia smiled at Sapphire and gestured towards a nearby door, "That one is yours, but I'm right next to you if you need anything. Has Rob showed you how to set a lock code yet?"

"Nope. He was going to do that later."

"Okay, well, he'll do a better job of showing you how it works, so I'm not going to bother trying. It's not locked at all right now, so just be aware." The trio walked up to the door and Artemis pressed the green button on the keypad, then the door opened, sliding into the wall to the right.

"All of the rooms are pretty much the same." Artemis started, "So the layouts don't really change, and if you want to personalize it you have to bring in stuff from outside the mountain."

The room had been cut into the earth, with stone walls, floor, and ceiling. There was a single bright bulb in the middle of the ceiling and three of the walls had lamps to help light everything up. A twin sized bed was pushed against the wall to the right and a wardrobe was to the left. The only other furniture in the room was a nightstand by the bed and a desk with an office chair against the far wall.

"Like she said, super plain, almost prison like, but, you know, we're actually allowed to leave." Troia winked at Sapphire, who managed a half-hearted smile in return.

"I have a bunch of posters, a rug, a new bed spread, and a bookshelf in my room. You're really allowed to bring in whatever you want, and if you need any more storage containers or bookcases, there's a room full of spares somewhere under us. Just talk to Canary, Red Tornado, or Batman and they'll show you where to find them."

"Okay. I'll definitely have to do that if this ends up being a permanent gig." Sapphire smiled at Artemis, "So what did you guys want to ask me away from everyone else? Everyone else meaning Robin, of course." She sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the two other girls expectantly. They had been less than subtle at trying to get her alone.

Artemis and Troia shared a look before they joined her, Artemis claiming the office chair and Troia sitting next to Sapphire.

"We talked a little bit, and as far as first impressions go, neither of us think that you're a mole." Troia spoke with absolute certainty, but was watching Sapphire's face carefully.

"Well that's stupid. Neither of you know me, and have no reason to trust me." Artemis' eyes widened in surprise. Of the reactions she had considered, that was definitely not one of them, "I mean, I appreciate it. Because I'm not a mole, but I don't want you guys to feel like you have to trust me straight away. Seriously, I can put up with Wing-butt till Batman announces I'm clear, but I don't give away trust, and I never thought heroes like you guys would either."

"Ya see though, we're not." Artemis spoke quietly, "We're not trusting you blindly. We're trusting Robin. Sure, I've been friends with Nightwing for longer and all, but Robin and I are… Similar. In a lot of ways. I know what it takes for him to trust people, and he trusts you – for whatever reason. Troia agrees with me, and out of everyone on this team she and I are the closest to Robin, but somehow in the past month or so, you've gotten even closer than we have in months. That's something that Nightwing isn't considering. He's got his heart in the right place, but that's the difference between him and The Bat. Nightwing lets his emotions affect his decisions. You'll learn to be glad that happens in the future, when something traumatic happens and he's the only one willing to give you a hug without judging."

Sapphire blinked in surprise and nodded, "Yeah, I guess it'll all work out in the end though. Once I get to know Martian Manhunter better, I might let him see my memories." She shifted awkwardly, "The main reason I was so against it at first was because he was just this random stranger, but now it turns out that he and my dad were good friends, and if he explains exactly what would happen I might be willing to do it in the future."

Artemis nodded, "It's actually not that bad. You can talk to Miss Martian about it if you want to know more about what would happen, she's actually removed programming from Superboy's mind before, and that's more intense than just scanning for some kind of tampering – I think."

Sapphire smiled, "I'll have to do that then. Is there anything else you guys wanted to talk about or show me? I really have to pee, and I'm pretty sure that Robin is gonna come looking for us soon if we don't head back."

Sapphire was leaning against the wall, watching the boys play video games (well, Robin, Nightwing, and KF play, Superboy's avatar was spinning in circles and looked lost, Aqualad was reading a book). The girls had taken her to the women's locker room and then the three had returned to the main sitting room several minutes earlier, but she was unaware of her unusual observer.

Green Arrow watched her for a moment, analyzing how she smiled at boys.

"Ya know," He said to Canary, who was leaning against him, "I didn't realize that she looks just like him."

"Who?"

"Her dad. You wouldn't know him. He left the league before you joined, but he was pretty much alumni for the first couple of years, while the League was still in its beginning stages. She has his smile."

"Hm. You two were friends, then?"

"Yeah. We knew each other outside of the mask too, but I didn't remember him at the time, so we weren't close after he left the League."

"Wait, is this the guy you were talking about after J'onn pulled you aside last week?"

"Yup. He was pretty incredible. Bats doesn't want me to talk about him much though, the girl is apparently skittish about the whole situation and doesn't want her dad's name thrown around yet." Canary nodded, making a mental note to get the girl to open up a bit more. After the strange tension between her and the majority of the team was eased, that is.

"It'll be interesting to see how she meshes with the rest of the Team. From what I've seen, I'll have to make them work through some trust exercises at the very least." It had been impossible to miss the raised voices that had echoed across the mountain after the adults had left Sapphire's introduction.

"You'll handle it. Besides, they're all good kids. They've just gotta figure out how to trust again. It's been a long couple of years for all of us."

Black Canary hummed in agreement, and the two were content to watch the rag-tag group of teens for the remainder of the evening.

Robin tapped the X on the controller furiously. It was the final round of the boxing game the boys had been playing, and he was tied with Kid Flash, this being the deciding round. They had been in the mountain for well over an hour now, and Sapphire had migrated to the couch with Artemis and Troia – the boys playing the video game all seated on the floor. A few more rapid taps, and Kid Flash groaned in defeat. dropping his controller. It was at this moment that the trio decided to return.

"Sapphire." Batman's quiet demand for attention caught everyone's attention, "You will be staying here for the next week or two. We are installing a zeta tube in the Batcave to make transport easier for you. A bag of your belongings is in your room and you will be traveling back and forth to bring over anything that you would like." She nodded seriously and pulled her legs up underneath her. Everyone soon turned back to their various distractions.

Robin pressed his lips into a thin line, knowing that the night would be coming to a close soon, and grabbed the TV remote to switch off the video game. He eventually selected a news station located in Washington D.C., though nothing terribly interesting seemed to be happening on the news, so he ended up scanning channels for the next hour while chatting with Artemis. Batman and Nightwing had left shortly after Batman's announcement, and the rest of the Team seemed to be winding down for the evening. M'gann – Miss Martian's real name – had just started to prepare dinner when Robin heard three sharp clicks over his comm link.

"Hey," he whispered to Sapphire, "Batman wants me back at the cave soon. Let's go make sure your room is set up before I head out."

The two stood up and headed out to the dorm hallway, finally stopping at her door.

"Just so ya know, that room" Robin pointed to a room three doors down and across the hall, "is mine. I don't usually spend a lot of time in there, but you're always welcome if I'm in there."

"Same here." She smiled, "But this place needs some serious redecorating…"

"Yeah, Batman and I can help you with that. Let's set up this password though. Do you have a number in mind? It has to be between 4 and 6 digits long."

"Does 2-1-2-4 work?" Robin pulled up the number pad on the screen by the door, typed B-14, and then typed the number sequence in twice. The screen pulsed green and then went back to sleep mode.

"Looks like you're all set! There's a panel on the wall by the door inside the room that let's you lock it, and if you ever decide to reset the password you can do it from there pretty easily." The two stood uneasily for a little while, then Robin's comm clicked again and he knew it was time to go.

"Listen," he said, "it's gonna be kinda awkward around here at first. No one really knows you yet, and M'gann, Superboy, Aqualad, and Zatanna are the only permanent residents here. But they shouldn't be too judgy on the whole 'you're a spy' thing. I'll even get Batman to chew out Nightwing for what he said to you earlier.

"The girls are really friendly, although M'gann can be really overwhelming at times and Zatanna can be pretty quiet. Superboy is the definition of stoic giant, he barely talks at all, and Aqualad is generally pretty friendly, but he is always very formal and doesn't understand human culture very well. M'gann always cooks, and she's actually really good at making breakfast, but I'd make your own lunches and dinners when you can, cuz those are give and take as to whether they're edible. All the food in the kitchen is up for grabs, unless it's literally labeled, and I'll be here as often as I can to see you."

"I'll be okay Robin, I promise." Sapphire smiled at him, putting on a brave face, "You'd better get back to the Cave though, Batman will be pretty peeved if you're late for patrol."

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know! The rest of the Team will be up for a little while, so it's up to you if you want to go to bed right now."

She smiled, "I know, but it's been a long day, so I think I'll just unpack and go to bed. Will the Team care if I don't say goodnight?"

"Nah, they haven't earned it yet anyways. I guess I'm going then. I'll see you tomorrow doll, goodnight!"

Jane waved at his retreating form and quietly slipped into her room. Somehow, this one seemed even less personable than the Med Bay in the Cave. She sighed and started unpacking the bag Batman had brought her from the Cave. Hours later, she lay silently on the foreign bed, trying to fall asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;" align="center"emstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"AN: I'm back! To my two darling followers, just so you know I have made some major edits to the previous chapters in this story. I got a review that pointed out a lot of weak points that I have, so I went about fixing them. ;) You shouldn't have to reread everything (although I recommend reading the AN at the beginning of Chapter 1) but I'll outline the major changes I made here:/span/strong/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;" align="center"emstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Batman figures out Jane's parentage a lot earlier, and minor motive changes were made because of it./span/strong/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;" align="center"emstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Nightwing is still being an ass, but it's revealed that part of that is due to a bit of jealousy that Jason got so close to her so fast, and Dick isn't that close with him yet. /span/strong/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;" align="center"emstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Batgirl is not yet a member of the Team, so I cut her out of those scenes, but she'll be added soon enough./span/strong/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;" align="center" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in; line-height: 115%; text-align: left;" align="center"emstrong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Hopefully I didn't miss anything major. :) If you want to go back and reread stuff, a large majority is much better written now. But either way, I hope you enjoy this new update! (and don't kill me for blowing up your email... XD)/span/strong/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" align="center" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" align="center"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Chapter 8/span/strong/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"June 16, 2012, Mount Justice/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane woke up to continuous pounding on her door. Still bleary eyed and feeling like her head was stuffed with cotton, she fell out of bed onto the floor in her rush to the door. It sounded like an emergency./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What is it?!" The door swished open and an unbalanced Kid Flash almost fell on top of her, "Are you okay? What's going on?" Jane was starting to feel panicked with his lack of response. He started at her in shock for a moment before letting out a "meep" and popping into the hallway faster than her eyes could follow, facing the wall. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Kid Flash." She was starting to get angry that he wasn't telling her what was going on that, "What is going on that you're freaking out this much?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Oh! Uh… Nothing, no reason to panic, just uh… Breakfastisready." He was fidgeting so much he was literally vibrating in place, and it took her a moment to understand his rushed speech. "You ahhh…" He swallowed hard, "You should probably put on your mask."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Shoot. Jane froze, wide eyed. She had completely forgotten about it. 'em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Breathe in, breathe out. Not his fault./em' She gently tapped his shoulder, urging him to turn around. "Look, it's uh, it's okay." She looked down at her bare feet, "Just don't tell anyone what I look like, and if you recognize me somewhere in the future, tell me first and I can either confirm or deny it. Just, don't spread it around and it'll be fine."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, uh, I can do that. Sorry, I should've realized that it would have sounded bad with me pounding so much. We good?" Jane realized in that moment that those two simple words were a peace offering. 'Sorry not making an effort at being friendly yesterday, let's start over.'/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She beamed a smile at him, "Yeah, we're good. Let me get dressed and I'll be right over!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Kay, see ya in a minute!" And with a gust of wind he was gone./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane dressed in a pair of baggy sweatpants and a tank top; it was warm in the cave, but still a bit drafty. After firmly adhering her mask in place, she headed to the common room and was surprised by the number of people there./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Miss Martian was just beginning to dish out the food and Superboy was literally holding Kid Flash in place so that he wouldn't snatch the plates out of the air where they hovered, directed by the Martian's telekinesis. Besides those three, Aqualad and Troia were also present, as well as six other young heroes who Jane vaguely remembered seeing, but hadn't met yet as they didn't stick around after Nightwing's outburst. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Upon noticing her arrival, Troia gestured for Jane to sit next to her. Quickly taking the offered seat, she settled in as formal introductions were made./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Everyone, this is Sapphire!" Troia grabbed the attention of the others at the table, and even KF settled down, "Sapphire, you've met Miss M, Superboy, KF, and Aqualad, but most of the rest of the team is pretty new too. Rocket and Zatanna," she gestured to the two dark-haired girls who smiled back, "have been part of the Team longer than me, but still aren't really what we consider 'founders.' It's been what, two years? Since you first joined?" Rocket nodded in agreement./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeh, I joined right after Zatanna in 2010, but she'd been an honorary member for a couple of months before me. Troia joined last year, and these four are new for this year too." Rocket gestured to the two boys and two girls left at the table./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Troia nodded, "Aquaman brought Aquagirl and Tempest with him last time he visited Atlantis, so they're almost as new as you, but they've had a lot of experience fighting in a battlefield so they're powerful additions. Bee and Mal are authorized guests, so they're really only here for a visit. They're both training to join the Team in the near future though."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Nice to meet ya girl. We always did need more estrogen around, I'm Bumblebee, and this here is my boyfriend Mal. We won't be staying for training since we're not official members yet, but we just wanted to stop by for breakfast to say hi." Sapphire nodded, smiling at each but content to just watch and listen. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We're still missing Red Arrow, Artemis, and Nightwing, but you met most of them yesterday and RA doesn't come around very often." Sapphire almost laughed at the wave of awkwardness that swept over the other teens, who all must have been remembering the confrontation that happened the day before, but Troia just plowed onward, either completely oblivious or just pretending not to notice./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""There's also a couple of regular League members that you'll see a lot. Red Tornado lives here in the mountain with us, and he usually runs the comms while we're on missions, but he isn't always available which is why we have Mal learning how to do it. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Black Canary is the one who trains us the most, she does all the teamwork exercises and figures out what our strengths and weaknesses are as a group, but our mentors still work with us one-on-one for everything. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Batman is the one who assigns all our missions and who we report to after they are over, but if he's unavailable one of the other Leaguers will step in. Other than that, you'll pick up on the rest as we go! Canary will probably want to test your fighting abilities today, with and without powers, so I would be prepared for that. She won't totally destroy you, but don't expect to win unless you can mimic other people's abilities."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire laughed, "Noted, but I doubt that anything she throws at me will be nearly as bad as Batman's training system. He's been hammering me for the past two or three weeks to get me up to par."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Batman has been training you?" Aqualad seemed truly surprised by this, and as Sapphire glanced around she noticed that everyone other than Troia was equally shocked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, yeah. I had a lot of martial arts training growing up, but nothing that could really prepare me for the kinds of missions that you guys do, so Batman has been working on getting me ready for battle. He wasn't going to let me join you guys if he didn't think I was already mission ready."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Troia nodded thoughtfully, "I don't know if he'll keep training you now that you're here, but if he's been training you so far he will probably keep doing it. From what I've seen, most of Robin and Nightwing's training is done at their home base, but they occasionally train here. Most of us have our own training schedules though, so don't feel like you have to follow exactly what we do, and the Sim Station we have lets us train with whatever kind of opponent we need." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire laughed, "Yeah, Batman has one of those and I figured out the basics of what I need to do to set it up." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It sounds like Batman gave you a lot of freedom in the Batcave then." Miss Martian said, prompting Sapphire to continue./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Not really. There were only three rooms that I had access to, and I could only walk a specific path across the main room to get to those other three. It was really intimidating how intense Batman got about privacy and stuff, but I understand why."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, let's go ahead and eat up before Kid Flash inhales the entire table!" Troia held back her chuckle at the boy's constant vibrating, which only increased at the promise of food, and soon the entire table was engulfed in a mix of quiet conversation and the clinking of glassware./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Thanks." Sapphire spoke softly between bites of her waffle, slowly working her way through the fruit and sausage that were also piled onto her plate./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Anytime." Troia smiled, "Try to stick with Artemis for the training later today, I don't know what your powers are, but assuming you're not related to Superman she will probably be your best bet when it comes to straight up fighting, and we can figure out the power stuff later."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Okay, I'll keep that in mind." Sapphire smiled./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Black Canary, 13/em." The computerized voice was just barely loud enough to be heard from the dining area. Everyone paused in eating when she confidently walked into the common room. Kid Flash let out an audible whine./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Keep eating! I won't start any training exercises until the Bats get here, so you have until then to finish." Canary continued through the room and walked out the other end, likely heading for the armory to prepare for today's lessons./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The rest of breakfast passed in a quiet rush to finish and Sapphire got to witness the horror that was a speedster eating. Kid Flash appeared to literally inhale half of the food that was on the table, and besides the sheer quantities of what he ate, it was disgusting how he could simultaneously eat three pancakes and a pile of eggs drizzled in ketchup./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Nasty, isn't it?" Sapphire gave a start when she realized that Robin was crouched right next to her, watching KF eat./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Uh, yeah. When'd you get here?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Just a minute ago. I turned down the volume of the zeta announcer temporarily. Didn't want to make a production out of my arrival, and it gives you all a few extra minutes to eat before Wing-nut gets here. I'd eat fast and suit up though, we don't always train in costume, but it looks like pretty much everyone else is already dressed."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Ah." Sapphire quickly ate the rest of the fruit on her plate, opting out of finishing her pancakes after KF's display, then rushed back to her room to pull on her suit as quickly as she could. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Just seconds after she got back to the kitchen area, the zeta tube distantly announced the arrival of Nightwing, and Black Canary called the Team into the training room. The floor was glowing white by the time they arrived, and Black Canary was waiting for them in the middle of the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Today's training exercises will be a bit different than normal. I'm going to pair you off for some light sparring to start off with, no powers, and we'll go from there. Keep it light for the first few rounds and properly warm up, then up the intensity at your comfort level. Troia and Superboy. Nightwing and Robin. Aqualad and Tempest. Zatanna and Aquagirl. Kid Flash and Rocket. Artemis, you can warm up with Sapphire first."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The Team paired off and spaced themselves out across the room, giving more space to Troia and Superboy. Surprisingly, the warm ups that she ended up doing with Artemis were just that: warm ups. They stretched and jogged and practiced some kicks to get her blood moving and her muscles warm for the sparring ahead of her, then watched the rest of the Team's fighting techniques with Black Canary. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Canary pointed how the ones who relied on their powers more and the more repetitive moves that a few of them did. After about thirty minutes, she called a halt to their sparring./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Sit on the sidelines and cool down. We'll be doing some team skirmishes in a bit, but I'm sure Sapphire is ready to get her evaluation out of the way." Sapphire tried to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. She took off her cloak and handed it to Robin, who gave her a reassuring squeeze to the shoulder./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Black Canary tossed her jacket to the side and smiled kindly to her, gesturing for her to take her place across from the older woman in the center of the training circle./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We'll spar once without powers, and then once with. You can stop at any time, but this is mostly so that I know how advanced you are and who to pair you with during training exercises. Do you have any questions?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Nope. I'm ready when you are." Sapphire got into her stance, lowering her center of gravity and keeping her hands loose, but high./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Canary attacked first, aiming a high kick that she had to duck under, swiftly followed by a jab and a hook. Sapphire dodged the first and blocked the second, trying to get into the other woman's space to land a hit, but was forced to retreat when Black Canary brought her elbow around./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"This continued for several minutes, Sapphire fighting mostly defensively but occasionally trying for a hit and Black Canary slowly upping her levels of aggression. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Stop." Canary called eventually, Sapphire starting to pant while her opponent had barely broken a sweat. "That was very good. You're holding back a little bit more than you need to in the field, but I'm assuming that Batman has gone over some offensive tactics with your powers?" She nodded. "Good, let's try those out. Do you know what my meta ability is?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah. The Canary Cry, right? I heard that it can take down buildings when used right."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You heard correct. Is that something you can defend against?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I think so. How special is this floor, Robin? Can it withstand me, or would that screw up the light job?" Robin smirked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You'll be fine. It's kinda like the Sim Station, so it's an easy fix once you're done." Everyone started to look a little more intrigued, trying to guess what her power could be, even Nightwing. (Jane felt just the tiniest bit smug about that but pushed the feeling down before it could fully surface)./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Okay. I can fix that." Sapphire turned to Canary and nodded, signaling her readiness./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Begin!" The breath she had to draw between the signal starting the fight and what would have been the end of the match was enough time for Sapphire to use her surprise advantage./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"A chunk of rock shot up from the ground and clipped the older woman under the chin, snapping her teeth together, before firmly fixing itself to her lips and jaw so that she wouldn't be able to open her mouth./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Canary stumbled backwards with the force of the hit, and Sapphire swept an arm out before her, pulling at the 'pixels' that covered the stone floor, marking the difference between the rest of the cave and the training area. The pixels wrapped around Black Canary's lower legs and arms, and when Sapphire mimed pushing down they dragged her opponent to the ground, pinning her spread-eagle. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"When Canary's shoulders started to shake with laughter, Sapphire pulled the stone and crystal pixels off of her, letting them merge back into the floor./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well there's your aggression." Canary stood up carefully and brushed off her hands. "Think you could do that in a real fight? When you don't know the other person's capabilities and are probably under a lot more stress?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire shrugged, "That's what Batman's been having me work on. I have to concentrate really hard to get the stone to do what I want it to, and if I lose my concentration it will freeze. I can handle a one-on-one opponent pretty well, but when you throw more in the mix with people who are probably simultaneously attacking," she gestured at Robin, "it doesn't go as well."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well that's what we're here for. We can help you train in your weak areas, and you'll be able to help up train in ours. What's the extent of your powers, though? Because that didn't seem like telekinesis."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire laughed, "No telekinesis. I can control earth in all the forms I've come across though. Dirt, stone, minerals, gems, metal is still really hard to work with, but I just need more practice."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Wait, you're saying that you can control stone to this level, but Batman's just left you in the Batcave unsupervised without any kind of meta suppressor?" Nightwing stared at her in something akin to horror./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Well, not really. I mean, I was only ever truly unsupervised at night, and then I was strapped in to a gurney. It's hard for me to control anything without being able to touch it in some way," she bounced on her heels to show that feet counted as touching, "and I was honestly pretty awful at controlling anything when Batman first met me. It took me a lot of training to be able to control it this specifically, and the only thing I could really do at that point was big movements of grab-n-pull." She mimed the gesture, "It worked against the bots in the training Sim at the time but wasn't going to get me anywhere in real life."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Nightwing kept staring at her, and it was starting to get weird. Robin stood up and cleared his throat, moving to hand Sapphire her cloak back, "Well, now that you went and ruined the mood, we might as well keep training." He shot Canary a look, and she nodded./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Let's play capture the flag. Nightwing, grab the flags out of my duffel." She waved a hand to indicate the bag sitting by one of the doorways. "Teams are as follows: Rocket, Miss Martian, Nightwing, Tempest, Artemis, Sapphire, and Troia. Zatanna, Superboy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Robin, and Aquagirl. More experienced members, make sure your teammates all understand the rules. You have ten minutes to develops a strategy and assign roles. Go!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire quickly hurried over to Troia, who led her to the farther side of the large room. It was rather obvious that Nightwing had been elected the automatic leader of their team, and everyone quickly gathered around him as he started laying out the strategy./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Aquagirl and Zatanna will likely remain behind as guards, so I want Tempest and Rocket to be on the attacking squad, backed up by Miss Martian and Artemis. Troia needs to separate Superboy from the rest of the group and keep him busy. Sapphire and I will guard the flag on this end." He did his best not to show his disdain at having the girl on his team, he knew what Canary was trying to do. "If anyone has a shot at the flag, go for it, but don't take unnecessary risks. Any questions?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire hesitantly raised her hand, and Nightwing sighed impatiently and waved at her to go ahead./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What are the rules? Canary mentioned that there were some I would need to know."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Use about 30% force when fighting and using meta abilities, don't leave the room, don't cause any lasting or serious harm to anyone, keep at least part of the flag in plain sight at all times, and you have to get the other team's flag back to your home base before the time runs out."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Gotcha. Thanks." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Everyone good?" Nightwing paused for any objections, "Okay, get into positions. Sapphire, follow me." He walked stiffly over to where the white tile switched back to the regular stone floor and held up the neon orange rag that represented their team's flag./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Do you think you can hide all but a corner of this in the floor?" Sapphire blinked, not sure how he had missed the display of her ability earlier, but glad that he was at least trying to be professional./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, I can do that." He handed her the rag, and she softened the ground enough to sink all but the very tip of it in the ground before hardening the stone again. "Is there anything I should look out for when the other's get over here?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Nightwing hesitated for a long moment, not sure if he should tell her anything that could be deemed a weakness of his friends. "Kid Flash moves fast, but you could probably trip him up. Don't get within grabbing distance of Superboy, and don't let Aqualad hit you with his water-bearers." She nodded, and the two fell into a tense silence until Canary called for them all to be ready./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You have fifteen minutes to get the enemy's flag. Time starts: now!" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The room exploded into motion. Sure enough, Zatanna and Aquagirl stayed back to guard their flag, and Superboy had apparently been given the same instructions to keep Troia out of the main action, because the two collided with an explosion of strength that was terrifying to watch./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"A yellow streak was Jane's only warning, before she was flying backwards and tucking her chin to keep her head from hitting the ground. Nightwing swung an escrima stick at his friend, and the two started a game of cat and mouse that was only possible due to their familiarity with each other's fighting techniques./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Shaking off the hard hit, Sapphire hopped up and found Aqualad bearing down on her, Robin getting held up by Artemis closer to his flag. The older protégé had already activated his water-bearers and formed a set of hammers which were swiftly swung at her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire rolled to the side and called up a short wall of rock before shoving it towards him. Aqualad dodged to the side, the attack only slowing him down for a moment before he was finishing his charge towards her. Desperate, and unsure how to fight against his constructs, she pulled at the stone under his feet./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Aqualad stumbled to the side, losing his balance and nearly falling over. She quickly followed through by slashing a strip of stone at his knees and pulled him to the ground and locked his legs in place with a thick layer of stone./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Robin chose that moment to introduce himself to the fight, planting his feet in the center of Sapphire's back and launching himself into a backflip, hurling her forward. She caught herself on her forearms, not having time to tuck into a roll. She twisted to the side quickly to avoid being pinned by the Boy Wonder and heard the crumbling of stone as Aqualad broke free from his light restraints. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"With the two boys teaming up on her, Sapphire threw technique to the wind and tossed her cloak at Robin, manipulating it so that it wrapped around him, trapping his arms and covering his eyes. Aqualad used her distractedness to his advantage though and trapped her in a choke hold from behind./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Time!" Everyone stuttered to a standstill as Black Canary walked into the center of the ring. "Artemis' team wins!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire twisted around and gaped at the other girl, who was standing calmly on their side of the room with a bright yellow flag in her hand./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""C'mon, I totally had you tied up!" Robin groaned dramatically, but his smile proved he wasn't truly upset./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, well next time it'd be a good idea to make sure I don't have anything sharp on me either." Artemis popped her hip out and smirked./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Bring me the flags and circle up." Canary gestured for them all to come closer. Once the flags were tucked away in the duffel bag, she turned to them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What are some things that you noticed that need to be worked on?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Robin spoke up first, "Make sure the enemy is completely neutralized before moving on." Canary nodded and moved on./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Be better aware of the other team's abilities and weaknesses." Aqualad said./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""These are good suggestions, and these are definitely things that you all need to work on. The one thing that I noticed was that you all also need to be aware of how your teammates are doing and where they are at. No one noticed that Artemis had been taken down, and there weren't enough people on Nightwing's team on defense. Your team won by luck and the lack of thoroughness of the other team, not because you were well prepared. Keep that in mind in the future." Nightwing nodded stoically./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You all did really well though. Let's go to the Sim Station, and we'll see if you can figure out how to fix some of these inconsistencies." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"As the Team moved to the Sim room, Sapphire smiled. She hadn't done spectacularly, she hadn't even beat her opponents, but they could work. They could work on being a em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"team/em, and she might just be able to fit in./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-tab-count: 2;" /span~span style="mso-tab-count: 3;" /span~span style="mso-tab-count: 3;" /span~/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Two hours later, and Jane was rethinking that idea. The Team had run through three simulated scenarios so far, using the newly installed Sim Station. They were horrible. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Aqualad was point leader during all of the simulations, but it was obvious that the Team was not used to communicating verbally and half the time Sapphire was sure that they were having some kind of silent conversation and leaving her out of it. Nightwing and Kid Flash didn't speak to her period, going out of their way to avoid her at times, and none of the other teens knew how to adjust their fighting techniques to work well with her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"When they failed the third Sim in less time than it took them to fail the first two, Black Canary called them to a stop./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Okay, not your best work today." Her hands were on her hips and her lips were pursed tightly, "We obviously need to work on integrating the newer members into the team dynamic, so we're going to stop for the day. I'll have some team building exercises for you all tomorrow, but I want you all to spend tonight getting to know the new members better and letting them get to know you. Any questions?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"No one said a word, but Nightwing had a dark look on his face./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Good. You're all dismissed."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Robin and Troia made their way over to Sapphire and everyone started to leave the room, glad that the awful training session was finally over and eager to shower and relax for the rest of the day./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Sapphire, could you stay for a minute?" Everyone paused, and the girl in question slowly headed back to Black Canary./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"When Black Canary didn't immediately ask her anything, Sapphire shrugged, "What's up?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I just wanted to say that you did good work today. There's a lot of things that you all need to work on as a team, but when you and I fought you knew your limitations and pressed the advantage when you had the element of surprise. It was a good strategy."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Thanks." She gave a small smile, some of the guilt that had been eating at her eased up./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Batman contacted me this morning asking to see you after training though, so if you can wait on a shower I can take you over to him now." Sapphire nodded./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""That's fine. I figured he'd want to talk to me anyways, see if I'm ready to have my brain scanned or something." She didn't actually know why Batman wanted to see her, but joking about anything helped relieve some of the anxiety she felt at being called out by Batman so soon after leaving the Batcave./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Sapphire instantly regretted that line of humor when Black Canary led her to a conference room, where Batman and Martian Manhunter were waiting for them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'll uh, let you have some privacy." Canary excused herself and the door slid shut behind her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane was nervous. She had to grip the sides of her cloak to keep her hands from shaking, because Batman was sitting in a secluded room with Martian Manhunter, and if she had learned anything that day it was that the loudest voices on the Team openly thought she was a spy, and the rest were content to silently listen. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /span'em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"He said he wouldn't force me/em.' She had to remind herself./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Most of the room was occupied by a long table surrounded by cushioned chairs and a large TV screen occupied the far wall. After a few minutes of silence, Martian Manhunter walked over to a panel next to the door, hit a series of buttons, and nodded to Batman./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""This room is secured and sound-proof. Only the three of us will know what is said from here on out." Batman gestured for Sapphire to sit down. "Do you remember me telling you that Martian Manhunter would be willing to show you some of his memories of your father?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Something in her chest released slightly, so this em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"wasn't/em to look through her mind…/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yeah, I remember. Are we doing that now?" She glanced at the green-skinned alien, but his face was impassive./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""If you wish to, yes. I can fully explain what would happen if that would make you more comfortable." Sapphire nodded sharply. "There are two methods that will yield the same result. I can pull your consciousness into my mind and show you the memories, or I can surround your mind and feed them to you that way. In both situations I would become quite familiar with your mind and emotions but would not be able to directly see your thoughts or memories."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"It suddenly clicked as to why Batman would do this now. Between yesterday and today it was obvious that some of the Team were less than welcoming (there was no doubt that Batman had been watching the morning's training session), and since she didn't yet trust Manhunter with her memories, this was the next best option. Give the Martian a chance to subtly check for any mental manipulation in exchange for a chance to learn more about her dad. She nodded anyways./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Do whichever one you're more comfortable with. I don't care."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He nodded once, then his eyes started to glow red. It was creepy to say the least. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Suddenly, it felt like someone had plunged her head into cold water. Jane gasped and sat up straight./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""It's okay. J'onn's mind is very different from those of humans. What does it feel like to you?" Batman placed a calming hand on Jane's shoulder./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Cold. Very… cold. He's… Are you around my mind?" She looked at the Martian./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Yes. Most humans are not that receptive, they simply feel like they are being watched, or that their head is fuzzy. I find your increased level of psychic awareness intriguing, to say the least. May I show you my first memory now?" Jane nodded cautiously and felt a slight pressure inside her head, though she assumed that it wasn't a literal pressure on her brain and simply one on her mind. She blinked and was suddenly standing in a rather dense woodland./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Oddly enough, she was walking towards a man dressed in black wearing a bullet proof vest, who happened to be talking to Green Arrow. In her peripheral vision, she could see the outline of Batman walking slightly ahead of her. She tried to look down at herself but found she couldn't. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'Don't panic.'/span/emspan style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The voice had a bit of an echo inside of her head, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'This is one of my memories. These events cannot be changed, just observed. You are /emmeem style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;" right now, Jane. You will be able to hear everything I heard, sensed, and thought. This all happened right as the League was first starting, and Green Arrow had yet to join us. We were responding to a call about a space shuttle landing outside of Starling City.'/em As J'onn's voice faded from her mind, Jane watched the memory continue. The man in black and Arrow both turned to the approaching heroes, and Green Arrow's face immediately soured. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Ya know, I am a reputable hero around here. I don't need the Bat and his pets ruining my gig." Arrow was surprisingly hostile to the two Leaguers, crossing his arms and tensing. Jane was actually able to feel Martian Manhunter extend his mind to the archer, and it was bazar to say the least. Nothing like how her powers worked, and practically unexplainable. Surprisingly, she could sense – through J'onn – that Arrow wasn't truly mad, more annoyed and exasperated than anything else. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Are you able to tell whether the life on the ship is hostile? Or translate as needed? Because Martian Manhunter is quite willing to leave." Batman monotoned, then watched as GA threw up his arms and walked away. He turned to the man in black armor who had been speaking with the archer. "What's the situation?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The man in black sized up Batman, then shrugged, "Landed here ten minutes ago, Intelligence was able to plot its descent, so we got here first. Our techies seem to be picking up high frequency wavelengths being transmitted periodically, but we can't read them. I'm assuming that whoever's inside is trying to contact us that way first, but we have no way of knowing. I'm Commander Carter, FBI. You're Batman and Martian Manhunter. What's your purpose here?"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""To make this introduction go smoothly without causing an interplanetary war, or to stop a coming invasion. Whichever happens first. Martian Manhunter can translate and give us a heads up before an attack."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""There is one being on the ship, and it is rather remarkable how he is calm, excited, and frustrated all at once." J'onn murmured to the other two men, 'seeing' in his mind where the being was standing. "It seems to be intelligent and is waiting for something to happen before it exits the ship."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Do you sense any hostility?" The Commander looked slightly annoyed that Batman was taking control of the situation but was too curious to do anything about it./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""No. The being is not aware of my presence from what I can tell. I believe that it will be disembarking the ship soon. It seems to be quite civilized but be prepared for anything."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Thank you, Martian Manhunter." Carter turned to the Dark Knight, "I understand that you are here to help, and I'm grateful for your presence, but understand that I am in charge here, and you are the guest." Batman contemplated the man in silence, and Jane could feel J'onn's amusement as Carter's emotions raged about./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We are simply here for precautionary measures. We will not do anything unless necessary, as long as you follow protocol." Batman's silent threat was heard, and Commander Carter stiffened at the thought that he could be responsible for an interplanetary war./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I assure you, we will be." He spoke through clenched teeth before turning sharply away to talk to someone else./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"It was less than a minute later that the ship started making strange sounds. Then the side pulled down and a ramp extended. Smoke and exhaust obscured everyone's view of the descending figure for a few moments, but Jane would never be able to forget the beaming smile of the man walking out of the alien ship. There was no denying that it was her father. Tamadon looked younger, but he had a way of smiling with his entire body that transcended all ages. It took Jane a few minutes to realize that she was no longer in the memory, and that she was practically hyperventilating. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I apologize. I sensed that it would be best to end the memory there. Are you alright?" she struggled to get her breathing under control and nodded, reigning in her emotions as best as she could./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I'm fine. I just… Wasn't expecting it to be real. For it to be em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"him/em." It had been easy for Jane to believe that Taylor had invented things for the League, and only slightly a stretch to believe that he had worked with them. But somewhere deep in her mind, she had quietly refused to believe that her parents weren't from Earth. Seeing her dad, because there's no way that that em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"wasn't/em her dad, walk off that ship had completely obliterated any ability for her to deny it though. Her parents were from another galaxy./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""Do you wish to continue? There is another memory I wish to show you. It should not be as difficult to view." Jane nodded and leaned back in the chair, bracing herself now that she knew what to expect./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'This memory is of the second time your parents chose to visit Earth together, just a few months after Tamadon had returned with I'ra En.'/span/emspan style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Her vision of the room faded quickly, and Jane found herself standing in a large stone cavern that was brightly lit. It appeared that she – the memory of Martian Manhunter – was standing on some kind of landing platform with various kinds of jets around them, and an opening against the far wall allowed deep blue water and the scent of the ocean into the room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The Martian seemed to be paying more attention to the space shuttle in front of him, however, and Jane recognized it as the same one from the first memory. The ship let out a hissing noise, and the ramp dropped down, revealing Jane's mother and father./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Tamadon looked almost the same as he had in the first memory, from the glimpse Jane had gotten before she started panicking. She found her eyes drawn to her mother though. Irene's hair was pulled back in a complicated bun, and she was significantly shorter than her husband, who wasn't very tall in comparison to the superheroes standing around waiting to greet them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane noted that, although she looked a lot like her mother with blond hair, grey eyes, and high cheekbones, she had her father's chin and nose. Her old photo albums did not do either of them justice./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I hope you realize that you can't just come and visit whenever the mood strikes you." Superman was speaking. He looked more exasperated than angry, but it was clear that he wasn't very happy with the duo./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We know. We actually have a proposition for you." Tamadon spoke clearly, although it was obvious he was a bit nervous when he grabbed his wife's hand. "In our home galaxy, we're really nothing special. We collect and sell space junk and pick up random cross-system delivery jobs that are posted by businesses too cheap to hire a freighter full time. I tamper around with useless inventions in my spare time and try to find ways to update my ship by myself, but coming here last time and reverse engineering holograms for Earth? That was incredible. I'ra and I have discussed it, and I'd like to offer my services to the League permanently. We'd need help creating identities here on Earth, and whatever else that entails, but I feel like I can make a big difference in your world that isn't offered anywhere in my galaxy."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I thought you had family there." Batman spoke gruffly, not moving from his position next to Superman./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Tamadon shrugged, "I've lived off planet since I turned eighteen, so there won't be much of a difference. We can leave Earth for a visit every now and then, and I took the liberty of dropping signal boosters along the way here, so I can talk with them whenever I want to."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""So, you're serious?" Superman seemed rather shocked that Tamadon was serious./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We're very serious." I'ra En spoke up, "We've been drifting around for the past three years, and neither of us have the education to expand beyond transport, nor the connections to work for an actual company. I don't have much to offer you, but Tamadon does and I really enjoyed my time on Earth. We have an opportunity to do something meaningful with our lives and want to help your cause."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I think that we will need to discuss this, as you permanently staying on Earth would require us to create false histories for you both. They will have to be detailed enough that the government would not mark you as illegal immigrants, and it is a very time-consuming process." Martian Manhunter spoke up before any other League member had the chance to start arguing the matter in front of their guests./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""We understand. You can all take as much time as you need to decide. We can stay on our ship and not be a bother until you need to talk to us." Tamadon tugged I'ra En closer and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""How do we know that you are trustworthy?" Hawkwoman was standing aggressively, her mace in hand and the distrust practically rolling off of her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""I have seen into Tamadon's mind. He is a trustworthy ally." Martian Manhunter spoke up, sensing her aggression./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Shayera was a recent addition to the League, and had not heard of Tamadon before. J'onn sensed that her quick-to-attack attitude would need to be addressed at some point, but quickly pushed the thought away. They had other things to think of first./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane could sense the slow withdraw of the Martian's mind this time, the shock and emotions not clouding her conscious. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wait!'/em She thought desperately./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'Yes?'/span/emspan style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" The soft baritone echoed in her mind./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'Dad let you into his mind?'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'Once Tamadon started working with the League, it was his primary method to communicate with me. The rest of the League prefers verbal communication, but he always opened his mind to me.'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane hesitated. The massive line between trust and the lack trust seemed much smaller now. These were some of her parents' closest friends, and she was willing to bet that the Martian was particularly close with her father./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'How much of will you see? If you were to look into my mind?'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'I would look into your memories of the past few months, especially the month you traveled between Star and Gotham, and sift through the mechanics of your mind to ensure there is no hidden programming. It is already clear that there is no overt tampering within your mind.'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'And I could show you him? The man I think took my father?'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'Yes. And anything else you would wish to.'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"Jane nodded physically, even though her eyes were still squeezed shut, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"'Then do it. I… I want to trust you. And I want to prove myself to the rest of the Team.'/em/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She could almost feel the sense of approval that Manhunter sent her, then memories were flashing into focus for seemingly no reason. True to his word, the only memories that Jane could tell he looked at were within the past three months, and then there was a period of silence when – she assumed – he looked for subconscious programming./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'Would you like to show me your memory now?'/span/emspan style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" His sudden intrusion startled her, but she wasted no time pulling up the memory of the face that would haunt her for the rest of her life. The strange hair and outfit that she could see through the crack in the door, and then the similarly dressed man at Niero's funeral./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'I will see that this man is added to your father's casefile, and search for a known villain in our databases. Are you all right?'/span/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"'I'm fine.'/span/emspan style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';" Jane felt deeply unsettled, but there was little that the Martian could do about that. She needed time to process the short snippets of memory that he had given her, and then she would truly be fine./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He left her mind with a sudden rush of warmth, projecting calming feelings at her as he withdrew. A flutter of her eyes and she was back in the conference room, Batman seated across from them./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""You're free to leave if you wish." He low grumble seemed softer than normal, and it occurred to Jane that Manhunter was telepathically filling him in on what had happened./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"She nodded and carefully stood, not wanting to be around people at the moment, but knowing the one person who would just quietly offer her comfort./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The conference room was deep in the mountain, and Jane couldn't quite remember how to get back to the common room, so she pressed a hand against eth wall and extended her senses. In this way she traveled back to the common room, then bypassed it to get to her room to grab a change of clothes for a shower, acutely aware of the sweat that was starting to make her suit stick to her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"The hot water of the communal shower eased some of the tension in her shoulders and gave her some time to get her head on straight. It took longer than she cared to admit, but after toweling her hair dry and dressing in some casual clothes, she made her way back to the common room./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"It looked as though the boys were just finishing with their video game, and as soon as she entered Nightwing took his leave. She didn't have enough energy to care at the moment though, and sat down on the green couch next to Robin./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""What happened?" Robin spoke lowly, flipping the TV off the video game and back to the cable channels, "Keep listeners in mind."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';""History lesson, I'll tell you later." She shifted slightly, pressing her shoulder into his for support./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 10.0pt; text-indent: .5in; line-height: 115%;"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"He leaned into her, and they settled down to watch a nature documentary with the team members who chose to stick around./span/p 


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